International Economics and Geopolitics Seminar with Stephen Broadberry (Oxford)
Do economic warfare and sanctions work: three centuries of evidence
The Columbia International Economics & Geopolitics Seminar, organized by Jeff Frieden and Alan Taylor and supported by the Center for Political Economy, the Insitute for Global Politics, and the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), is pleased to host Stephen Broadberry (Oxford) to present a work in progress entitled "Do economic warfare and sanctions work: three centuries of evidence."
Abstract:
We draw lessons from three centuries of economic warfare and sanctions. Establishing cause and effect is difficult because much else was typically changing during periods of conflict. Unintended consequences were everywhere. Impact was followed (and sometimes preceded) by adaptation so that countermeasures blunted the effectiveness of economic warfare measures and sanctions. This does not mean that the original measures were unimportant, because countermeasures were costly to the target country. Civilian lives and interests were collateral damage. Economic warfare and sanctions worked most effectively when complemented by fighting power either engaged in conventional warfare or credibly threatening war as a deterrent, and they were ineffective in its absence.
