Van H. Pham

Professional Summary

Van Pham is a professor of Economics. His research focuses on diverse issues relevant to the U.S. and world economies including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and migration, health policy, child labor, gender in labor markets, corruption, sovereign debt and technology change. Pham and a colleague at the Texas A&M University School of Law developed and maintain the Immigrant Climate Index, a measure of conditions facing immigrants created by legislation enacted at the state, county and city levels. Pham's papers have been published in top economics and law journals and have been cited more 3000 times. He also writes non-academic policy commentary in both English and Vietnamese language outlets. Pham has advised more than 25 research theses and teaches both undergraduate and graduate students.  He has given talks to academics, business executives, diplomats and policy makers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

After his studies at MIT, where he was a Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Pham worked as an overseas volunteer in a refugee camp in the Philippines.  This experience inspired him to work on issues that affect the poor. Pham would go on to study for a PhD in Economics at Cornell University. Pham was a Fulbright Scholar visiting the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and has held visiting positions at the University of Rouen, France, and the World Bank.  His research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and the Walmart Foundation.

Education

• 1998 – PhD, Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
• 1992 – SM, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 1989 – SB, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Courses

• ECO 5315 – Microeconomic Theory and Business Decisions
• ECO 5318/4319 – Game Theory

Research Interests

• Economic Development
• International Trade
• Immigration
• Applied Theory
• Applied Microeconomics

Selected Publications

• Yoo-Mi Chin, Scott Cunningham, and Pham Hoang Van (forthcoming). The Long-Term Effects of the Rwandan Genocide on Child Work. Economic Development and Cultural Change.
• Huyen Pham and Pham Hoang Van (2019). Sub-Federal Immigration Regulation and the Trump Effect. New York University Law Review, 94(1), 125-170.
• Nguyen Trong Hoai, Nguyen Truong Toan, and Pham Hoang Van (2017). Trade Diversion as Firm Adjustment to Trade Policy: Evidence from EU Antidumping Duties on Vietnamese Footwear. World Economy, 40(6), 1128–1154.
• Shawn Ni  and Pham Hoang Van (2006). High Corruption Income in Ming and Qing China. Journal of Development Economics, vol. 81(2), 316-336.
• Kaushik Basu and Pham Hoang Van (1998). The Economics of Child Labor. American Economic Review, 88(3), 412–427.