Assessing United Nations Economic Sanctions: The Relationship between Sanctions and Imports in Eleven Targeted States from 1990 to 2014

While scholars have conducted ample studies of sanctions’ policy effectiveness, there has been a limited effort so far in determining their economic and trade costs to target countries. By focusing on sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on 11 states between the end of the Cold War in 1990 and 2014, this analysis seeks to determine whether UN sanctions are associated with a decrease in target state goods imports and whether there are differential relationships for imports from advanced as opposed to emerging economies. Using a panel data regression methodology and controlling for socioeconomic, political, sanctions-related, financial, and governance factors, this study finds no link between UN sanctions and decreased imports by target states and contrasting evidence for different trade patterns with advanced and emerging economies for other sanction types. These findings, coupled with the costs and externalities sanctions have on both senders and targets, suggest that sanctions yield unclear results in target states and that policymakers should weigh these considerations seriously before using this tool.