Larch et al.: Economic Sanctions and Agricultural Trade

In Economic Sanctions and Agricultural Trade, authors Mario Larch (Law, Business Administration, and Economics, University of Bayreuth, Germany), Jeff Luckstead (Economic Sciences, Washington State University), and Yoto V. Yotov (Economics, Drexel University) discuss the impact of economic sanctions, particularly for farmers and agricultural trade.

Economic sanctions have become an ever more prevalent piece of international trade politics, growing in popularity as a way for countries to act without the need for military intervention. The authors discuss that although sanctions have become a frequent policy tool, their impact on countries and particular industries is not well understood. Through historical international trade data, the authors examine the impact of different types of sanctions on various agricultural trades. Examining several decades of global sanction and agricultural trade data, the authors also pay special attention to the effect of recent sanctions against Russia in 2014.

In particular, the authors found that complete trade sanctions with a country decrease overall agricultural trade by almost two-thirds. Although more targeted sanctions on a particular industry were less effective at slowing industry than complete trade sanctions, they also had a significant impact on agricultural trade. The research also identifies certain agricultural industries that are more drastically impacted by trade sanctions, which the authors argue is a result of more targeted sanctioning tactics.

It is important to note that while this article shows the economic impact of sanctions, the researchers leave unaddressed whether such economic pressure actually achieves the goal of sanctions. The authors note that sanctions are typically used to provide political pressure, and their research is limited to the economic effects. Further research can expand by drawing links between the economic effects of sanctioning and political action taken by the affected country. Nonetheless, Larch, Luckstead, and Yotov provide a detailed and thorough analysis of the economic effects of sanctions on agriculture and the economy as a whole.