IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_9573.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Extraterritorial Trade Sanctions: Theory and Application to the US-Iran-EU Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Eckhard Janeba

Abstract

Under extraterritorial sanctions the sanctioning country extends its policies to trade of third countries with the sanctioned country. A prominent example is former US President Trump’s decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multilateral agreement with Iran. The decision led to a shutdown of EU trade with Iran. In this paper, I develop a game-theoretic model to explain the emergence of extraterritorial sanctions. Such trade sanctions i) do not arise when the harmful activity of the sanctioned country (“build a nuclear bomb”) is verifiable even if monetary transfers are ruled out, but ii) emerge if a second activity (“sponsor international terrorism”) is not verifiable, and the sanctioning countries differ in their gains from trade with the sanctioned country, their harm from the non-verifiable, and their reputational cost from abandoning the international economic order. In the context of the US-Iran-EU conflict, I argue that the oil and gas fracking boom in the US together with former President Trump’s ignorance of his international reputation are key factors in the emergence of extraterritorial trade sanctions.

Suggested Citation

  • Eckhard Janeba, 2022. "Extraterritorial Trade Sanctions: Theory and Application to the US-Iran-EU Conflict," CESifo Working Paper Series 9573, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp9573.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Syropoulos, Constantinos & Yalcin, Erdal & Yotov, Yoto, 2019. "On the Effects of Sanctions on Trade and Welfare: New Evidence Based on Structural Gravity and a New Database," School of Economics Working Paper Series 2019-3, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University.
    2. Kaemfer, William H & Lowenberg, Anton D, 1988. "The Theory of International Economic Sanctions: A Public Choice Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 786-793, September.
    3. Gary Clyde Hufbauer & Jeffrey J. Schott & Kimberly Ann Elliott, 2007. "Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 3rd edition (hardcover)," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 4075, January.
    4. James Feyrer & Erin T. Mansur & Bruce Sacerdote, 2017. "Geographic Dispersion of Economic Shocks: Evidence from the Fracking Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1313-1334, April.
    5. Stéphane CIRIANI, 2015. "The Economic Impact of the European Reform of Data Protection," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(97), pages 41-58, 1st quart.
    6. Maxim Engers & Jonathan Eaton, 1999. "Sanctions: Some Simple Analytics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 409-414, May.
    7. Afesorgbor, Sylvanus Kwaku, 2019. "The impact of economic sanctions on international trade: How do threatened sanctions compare with imposed sanctions?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 11-26.
    8. Falvey, R. & Lloyd, P.J., 1999. "An Economic Analysis of Extraterritoriality," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 675, The University of Melbourne.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Konrad, Kai A., 2024. "Dominance and technology war," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Konrad, Kai A. & Thum, Marcel, 2023. "Elusive effects of export embargoes for fossil energy resources," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oechslin, Manuel, 2014. "Targeting autocrats: Economic sanctions and regime change," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 24-40.
    2. Jamal Ibrahim Haidar, 2017. "Sanctions and export deflection: evidence from Iran," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(90), pages 319-355.
    3. Demena, B.A. & Benalcazar Jativa, G. & Reta, A.S. & Kimararungu, P.B. & van Bergeijk, P.A.G., 2021. "Does research on economic sanctions suffer from publication bias?," ISS Working Papers - General Series 674, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    4. Naghavi, Alireza & Pignataro, Giuseppe, 2015. "Theocracy and resilience against economic sanctions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Baran Han, 2018. "The role and welfare rationale of secondary sanctions: A theory and a case study of the US sanctions targeting Iran," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(5), pages 474-502, September.
    6. Joshi, Sumit & Mahmud, Ahmed Saber, 2018. "Unilateral and multilateral sanctions: A network approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 52-65.
    7. Afesorgbor, Sylvanus Kwaku & Mahadevan, Renuka, 2016. "The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Income Inequality of Target States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-11.
    8. Hyejin Kim & Jungmin Lee, 2020. "The Economic Costs of Diplomatic Conflict," Working Papers 2020-25, Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea.
    9. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Kirilakha, Aleksandra & Syropoulos, Constantinos & Yalcin, Erdal & Yotov, Yoto V., 2020. "The global sanctions data base," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    10. Jerg Gutmann & Matthias Neuenkirch & Florian Neumeier, 2024. "Political Economy of International Sanctions," Research Papers in Economics 2024-07, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    11. William Seitz & Alberto Zazzaro, 2020. "Sanctions and public opinion: The case of the Russia-Ukraine gas disputes," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 817-843, October.
    12. Aldunate, Felipe & González, Felipe & Prem, Mounu, 2024. "The limits of hegemony: U.S. banks and Chilean firms in the Cold War," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    13. Denise Guthrie & Erick Duchesne, 2003. "(Mis)Selection Effects and Sovereignty Costs: An Alternative Measure of the Costs of Sanctions," University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20032, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute.
    14. von Soest, Christian & Wahman, Michael, 2013. "Sanctions and Democratization in the Post-Cold War Era," GIGA Working Papers 212, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    15. Byungwon Woo & Daniel Verdier, 2020. "A unifying theory of positive and negative incentives in international relations: sanctions, rewards, regime types, and compliance," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 215-236, September.
    16. Vincenzo Bove & Jessica Di Salvatore & Roberto Nisticò, 2023. "Economic Sanctions and Trade Flows in the Neighborhood," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 671-697.
    17. Fuchs, Andreas & Klann, Nils-Hendrik, 2013. "Paying a visit: The Dalai Lama effect on international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 164-177.
    18. Afesorgbor, S. Kwaku & Kornher, Lukas & Santeramo, Fabio, 2023. "The impacts of economic sanctions on food (prices) security: Evidence from targeted countries," 2023: The Future of (Ag-) Trade and Trade Governance in Times of Economic Sanctions and Declining Multilateralism, December 10-12, Clearwater Beach, FL 339511, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    19. Bělín, Matěj & Hanousek, Jan, 2021. "Which sanctions matter? analysis of the EU/russian sanctions of 2014," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 244-257.
    20. Joshi, Sumit & Mahmud, Ahmed Saber, 2016. "Sanctions in networks: “The Most Unkindest Cut of All”," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 44-53.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    international trade; sanctions; extraterritorial sanctions; US-Iran conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_9573. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.