How Economic Sanctions Affect Human Development: Evidence and Policy Implications

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the empirical evidence regarding the effect of economic sanctions on human development outcomes and discusses possible avenues for reform of the current sanctions regime to reduce their adverse impact on capabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Economic sanctions
• economic statecraft
• human development
• capabilities
• overcompliance

Acknowledgements

I thank Giancarlo Bravo and Luisa García for excellent research assistance. All errors are my responsibility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Own calculations based on Felbermayr et al. (2023) and World Bank (2023).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

F. Rodríguez

Francisco Rodríguez is the Rice Family Professor of the Practice of Public and International Affairs at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is a former head of the Venezuelan Congressional Budget Office, a former head of research of the United Nations’ Human Development Report Office and a former chief Andean economist of Bank of America. His book The Collapse of Venezuela: Scorched Earth Politics and Economic Decline will be published by University of Notre Dame Press in the Spring of 2025.