Contact Info. Blodgett 127 Email: moali@vassar.edu Phone number: (845) 437-7399 Office Hours: Thursdays 3 – 5 p.m.     Mona is a Ph.D. candidate at The New School for Social Research in New York. Her fields of research are trade & finance and political economy. Her doctoral dissertation is entitled Asymmetric Returns to U.S. Foreign Assets: American Superiority or Accounting Fiction? - Three Essays on U.S. Foreign Balances  She has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the New School.  Her B.A. is from Mount Holyoke College where she majored in Economics and Critical Social Thought.   Course Offered (Spring 2008)   Econ 380: The U.S. Trade Deficit   The U.S. trade balance is in the red by more than $800 billion or 5.6% of the GDP. This deficit is the largest ever in world history and absorbs three quarters of the world’s external trade surpluses. This seminar is devoted to exploring the causes and consequences of this unusually large U.S. trade deficit. Some of the questions that we will explore include: What is the relationship between the globalization of production, international competition, and our current account deficit? How is the privileged role of the dollar in the international monetary system related to the U.S. trade deficit and its financing? We will also look at the effects of these trade and capital flow imbalances on the U.S., China, our largest bilateral trade deficit partner, and other developing country trading partners. The goal of this course is for students to enhance their understanding of the structure of contemporary international trade and finance by engaging in some key current debates in the field.mailto:moali@vassar.edu%22%20%5Co%20%22mailto:moali@vassar.edushapeimage_1_link_0