Economic Sanctions Reconsidered

by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott

This is a revised edition of the classic book on this subject. It chronicles and examines 170 cases of economic sanctions imposed since World War I. Fifty of these cases were launched in the 1990s and are new to this edition. Special attention is paid to new developments arising from the end of the Cold War and the increasing globalization of the world economy. Analyzing a range of economic and political factors that can influence the success of a sanctions episode, the authors distill a set of commandments to guide policymakers in the effective use of sanctions.

Genres: Political Science, Politics, Economics

233 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1985

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna]

interview

Gary Hufbauer: All the economic sanctions in the last four decades or five decades have had less than a two percent impact on the GDP of the target country. Two percent is not a very big figure.

Now there are exceptions: the sanctions against Iraq prior to the Gulf Wars had a much bigger impact, probably 15 percent.

The sanctions against Iran probably have an impact prior to the JCPOA/nuclear deal [at] about five percent. So that’s the range of impact.

If the target country is a large country which has a very strong leader, and has no internal political dissent or conflict, then, in those circumstances, the sanctions are unlikely to produce regime change.