“Economic history shows: trade and financial sanctions rarely work,” — said Jes us Fernández-Villaverde, a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

According to optimistic estimates, a third of sanctions can be considered successful; by skeptical estimates, only 5% are successful—those figures the scholar cited in his presentation at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole, the United States.

The economist analyzed the results of trade sanctions on the oil industry and concluded that a shadow fleet makes up for the volume of shrinking official trade. He is confident that similar mechanisms also make restrictions in the financial sphere ineffective.

To learn how the American professor explains his point of view and why sanctions are being imposed in the first place despite doubts that they solve their task—read on RBC’s subscription.

Our channel: Node of Time EN