Some Economic and Ethical Problems with Trade Sanctions

Numerous articles have been written on economic sanctions over the past few decades. Most papers take an overall approach, focusing on the utilities and dis-utilities of sanctions in general or on a specific sanction. While this paper also looks at general aspects of sanctions, it goes beyond the usual focus and also examines some particular aspects of economic sanctions that are often overlooked in both the economic and ethical literature. Rather than limiting itself to utilitarian aspects of sanction policy, the paper also applies other ethical approaches to evaluate whether sanctions pass the ethical test. The possibility of compensation for losses caused by the imposition of sanctions is also discussed