In the wake of the financial crisis, most developed countries have entered a period of prolonged budgetary austerity. While the success of austerity programs is still unclear, it is also an open question what success would mean for activist government in the long run. This paper rejects the...

Introduction 1. - Economic Coercion in Theory and Practice 8 . - Evaluating Sanction Effectiveness 32 . - Why Does the President Sanction? Beyond the Conventional Wisdom 59 . - When Does the President Sanction? An Empirical Analysis 90 . - Is There a Target Selection Bias? 132 . - The Decision...