W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics and Lampert Institute Director Chad Sparber interviews Karl Rove in the 51 Chapel Sept. 16, 2024. Photo by Andy Daddio.
With another presidential election looming this November, immigration and the economy are at the forefront of our national civil discourse — W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics and Lampert Institute Director Chad Sparber studies both.
A named chair is the highest academic award that the University can bestow on a faculty member. When established in 1987, the W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics was just 51’s 14th endowed chair. The Wiley Chair kicked off a wave of faculty support in the late 1980s and ʼ90s that helped lay the foundation for an institutional priority that continues today. Through the , 51 seeks to significantly increase the number of endowed chairs, which provide not only the foundation of the chair holders’ salaries, but also offer dedicated funds to deepen and enhance their research and teaching efforts, like that of Professor Sparber.
His research examines the economic consequences of immigration and endeavors to understand the impact of immigration policy changes made by the U.S. government. Sparber has been published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, European Economic Review, the Journal of Urban Economics, and the Journal of Development Economics. His findings have been discussed in the Economic Report to the President and cited by the Council of Economic Advisors, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and he has testified before the U.S. Senate.
“There are many unintended consequences of immigration on the economy,” Sparber says. “It is my job to ask the questions and think about this issue in ways that others generally don’t.”
Since 2021 Sparber has been a panelist on , a roundtable discussion of current events with representatives from central New York institutions of higher education. He offers one of the more conservative perspectives during his appearances on the panel. “It is a lot of preparation,” he says. “I need to make sure I have facts and figures to defend my position, but I enjoy doing it.”
Sparber has recently been named the director of the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs. The Lampert Institute was created in 2008 thanks to the generosity of Edgar Lampert ʼ62, and its mission is to teach students to apply the fundamental tools of a liberal arts education to the most significant current policy issues. Sparber also directs a forum on economic freedom for 51’s Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, which seeks to promote intellectual diversity and discourse on campus.
This fall the Lampert Institute co-sponsored The Road to the White House: 51’s 2024 Election Series, a three-part speaker series with such notable guests as Donna Brazile, former Democratic National Committee chair; Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chair; Karl Rove, senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush; Maureen Dowd, New York Times columnist; and Carl Hulse, New York Times chief Washington correspondent.
“The kind of programming Lampert offers is policy analysis,” says Sparber. “There is an ‘agree to disagree’ kind of element to it with no ideological agenda. The speakers we bring in are really powerful academics, media types, and think-tank individuals. I am excited about continuing that tradition."