T HE P ENNSYLVANIA S TATE U NIVERSITY E CONOMICS A SSOCIATION P RESENTS :

D R . S AROJ B HAT TARAI

T HE L UNCH W ITH S ERIES - L UNCH #2 FALL 2013 PSUEA.ORG
T HE L UNCH
WITH

Lunch with Dr. Bhattarai Monday Oct. 7th at 12:30 1st Floor of Kern Building

S ERIES

IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE

PSUEA E XTERNAL R ELATIONS T EAM

I NTERVIEW BY M EGAN F ELLA F ORMATTING BY ZACH GRANATA

Q: What type of food do you like? A: All kinds. Thats something I miss about not being close to a city, there arent as many options in State College. Anything fresh, healthy. My new favorite restaurant is the new Thai restaurant in Lemont. Q: What is the last book you read? A: I love reading novels, the last book I read was probably Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. She writes about immigrant stories. Q: How long have you been interested in Economics?
Note: This interview is paraphrased and edited for readability and cohesiveness. Editors additions appear in brackets [Note].

A: Since junior year in college, so since 2003. I started in chemistry, but found economics more relevant. Q: Are you interested in other areas of academia?

Q: Tell us about yourself briefly.

A: At this point no, but maybe Ill end up doing some crossA: I grew up in Nepal and came to the US for college. I stud- disciplinary stuff going forward. ied chemistry and economics and then went to graduate school for economics. Ive been at Penn State since 2010, I teach both graduates and undergraduates. Happily settled in I like to think about issues that State College with my wife and 2-year-old daughter. Q: What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend (hobbies)? A: I spend a lot of time with my family these days because of my daughter. I play squash. We also try to travel quite a bit. We go to shows and like to go to museums.

are relevant for policy, thats why Im more interested in Macroeconomics. Policy oriented questions and frameworks.

Q: What is the most extreme (or interesting) experiQ: Where do you (primarily) get your news? ence youve had? A: These days almost all online. Times, CNN, BBC. I used A: Moving to the US and settling down in State College. to subscribe to the economist print version. The first time in the US was a big change.

Q: What is the most pressing issue for the U.S. economy today? A: Right now its clearly the slow recovery and the very problematic news coming out of the labor market, the labor participation rate is extremely low. We need to make sure this stays a short-term problem and doesnt end up becoming a long-term problem. Q: What type of Economics (e.g. Behavioral, Trade, Monetary) do you find most interesting? A: I like to think about issues that are relevant for policy, thats why Im more interested in Macroeconomics. Policy oriented questions and frameworks.

Q: How does Econ affect our lives in a way we wouldnt expect? A: I think the principals of economics we apply in everything we do, in our day-to-day activities. Thats actually what attracted me to economics. We apply game theory in making decisions, we bargain with each other, we borrow and save based on economics principals. We can see these principals in action in many instances.

R ELEVANT L INKS : ECON . LA . PSU . EDU / PEOPLE / LECTURE _ DIR . HTML HTTPS :// SITES . GOOGLE . COM / SITE / BHATTARAISAROJ / We would like to thank Dr. Bhattarai for his time and his willingness to work with us. Take advantage of this opportunity to sit down with a PSU Econ professor and talk about current economic issues and his specialized field of economics. The conversations have no agenda and can go in the direction that the attendants want. Want to know more about a professor's past economic experience? Want his opinion on recent economic news? Curious if he's a Classical or Keynesian? Here's your chance to find out! Space is limited, please RSVP on our website. PSUEA.org

Students talk with Professor McLeod at a Professor Lunch last year.