IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reviec/v32y2024i1p109-131.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Divert when it does not hurt: The initiation of economic sanctions by US presidents from 1989 to 2015

Author

Listed:
  • Hana Attia

Abstract

A dominant argument in the literature is that leaders tend to initiate military disputes in periods plagued by economic distress. This article revisits the diversionary theory and adapts it to the use of economic sanctions in the United States, contending that their use follows a similar diversionary logic. Using a novel dataset on US sanctions from 1989 to 2015, I find that presidents are more likely to use sanctions when unemployment is high and the president's party power in Congress is weak. I show that when doing so presidents opt for sanctions that inflict little harm on the US economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Hana Attia, 2024. "Divert when it does not hurt: The initiation of economic sanctions by US presidents from 1989 to 2015," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 109-131, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:32:y:2024:i:1:p:109-131
    DOI: 10.1111/roie.12704
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12704
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roie.12704?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:32:y:2024:i:1:p:109-131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0965-7576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.