The Sanctions Age The Sanctions Age

Javad Shamsi on how firms adapt to sanctions.

The U.S. sanctions on Iran target sectors across the country’s economy, including the energy, manufacturing, and banking sectors. In addition, hundreds of Iranian companies have been designated, meaning they have been singled out with targeted sanctions. Despite this expansive sanctions regime, very few large enterprises in Iran have gone out of business, suggesting that managers at most companies found ways to adapt to sanctions pressure.

Javad Shamsi is one of the first researchers to try and understand these adaptations. Last year, he published a working paper examining how publicly listed companies in Iran responded to sanctions. The paper, titled “Understanding Multi-Layered Sanctions: A Firm-Level Analysis,” uses a unique dataset composed of “transcripts and reports from board meetings of publicly traded Iranian firms.” Javad analyzed the content of these reports and made some surprising findings.

Javad is pursuing his PhD in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He did his masters in economics at Iran’s famed Sharif University of Technology, often called “Iran’s MIT.”
The Sanctions Age is hosted by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. The show is produced by Spiritland Productions and is supported by a grant from the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

To receive an email when new episodes are released, access episode transcripts, and read Esfandyar's notes on each episode, sign-up for the The Sanctions Age newsletter on Substack: https://www.thesanctionsage.com/

Daniel McDowell and Maria Shagina on how states evade and undermine sanctions.
The stakes around sanctions circumvention have never been higher. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made sanctions evasion a matter of life or death. Russia continues to use export revenues to fund its war economy, and, despite trade restrictions, Russian factories continue to churn out weapons using imported parts and machinery. Meanwhile, growing antagonism between China and the United States has spurred Chinese officials to worry about their vulnerability to US financial sanctions and therefore question the dollar’s dominant role in the global economy. China has begun developing an alternative financial infrastructure, which could one day undermine the dollar’s unique role in international trade.

With the stakes higher than ever before, sanctions circumvention is garnering greater attention from policymakers, researchers, and journalists. But a handful of experts have studied these issues for over a decade. They have unique insights to share.

Daniel McDowell is an associate professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is also the author of Bucking the Buck: U.S. Financial Sanctions and the International Backlash Against the Dollar, which was published last year.

Maria Shagina is the Diamond-Brown Research Fellow for Economic Sanctions, Standards and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The Sanctions Age is hosted by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. The show is produced by Spiritland Productions and is supported by a grant from the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

To receive an email when new episodes are released, access episode transcripts, and read Esfandyar's notes on each episode, sign-up for the The Sanctions Age newsletter on Substack: https://www.thesanctionsage.com/

Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman on weaponizing Interdependence in a globalized world.

In 2019, Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman published a paper titled “Weaponized Interdependence,” which quickly became one of the most widely cited papers about economic coercion. The paper spurred scholars and policymakers to recognise how the networks that underpin the globalised economy can be exploited by powerful states to compel policy change or deter unwanted actions.

Henry Farrell is a professor at John Hopkins University’s School of Advance and International Studies, where he is the Agora Institute Professor of International Affairs.

Abraham Newman is a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he is the Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies.

Together, Henry and Abe are the authors of two recent books: Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Fight over Freedom and Security, which was published in 2019 and Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy, which was published last year.


The Sanctions Age is hosted by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. The show is produced by Spiritland Productions and is supported by a grant from the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

To receive an email when new episodes are released, access episode transcripts, and read Esfandyar's notes on each episode, sign-up for the The Sanctions Age newsletter on Substack: https://www.thesanctionsage.com/

Saleha Mohsin on how the strong dollar became the weaponized dollar.
Over the last few decades, the Department of Treasury has transformed from an institution that managed the dollar, government budgets, and issued bonds into an institution playing a critical role in US national security. At the heart of this transformation was cast of characters—legislators and bureaucrats—who realised the immense power that the U.S. government could wield through the use of sanctions, including the power to wage economic war.

Saleha Mohsin has covered the Treasury Department for Bloomberg since 2016. Her new book, tilted, Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order, was published last week and draws on interviews with more 100 current and former officials and diplomats.  


The Sanctions Age is hosted by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. The show is produced by Spiritland Productions and is supported by a grant from the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

To receive an email when new episodes are released, access episode transcripts, and read Esfandyar's notes on each episode, sign-up for the The Sanctions Age newsletter on Substack: https://www.thesanctionsage.com/