Economic Sanctions on Russia | Economics, Applied | Steven Davis, Oleg Itskhoki, and Elina Ribakova | Hoover Institution

Oleg Itskhoki and Elina Ribakova join host Steven Davis to discuss two big questions about economic statecraft: How have economic and financial sanctions on Russia affected its economy and its war-fighting capabilities? More broadly, when are sanctions likely to be effective, ineffective, or downright counterproductive?

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Oleg Itskhoki is a professor of economics at Harvard, a research associate of the NBER, CPER research affiliate, and an associate editor of the American Economic Review. He previously held faculty positions at UCLA and Princeton. Among his other honors, he is a fellow of the Econometric Society and a recipient of the 2022 John Bates Clark Medal.

Elina Ribakova is a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and director of the International Affairs Program and vice president for foreign policy at the Kyiv School of Economics. Her previous positions include managing director and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa Research at Deutsche Bank and director and chief economist for Russia and the Commonwealth for Independent States at Citigroup.

Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a research associate of the NBER, IZA research fellow, elected fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, and consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He co-founded the Economic Policy Uncertainty project, the U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, the Global Survey of Working Arrangements, the Survey of Business Uncertainty, and the Stock Market Jumps project. He also co-organizes the Asian Monetary Policy Forum, held annually in Singapore. Before joining Hoover, Davis was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, serving as both distinguished service professor and deputy dean of the faculty.

RELATED RESOURCES:

• The Economics of Sanctions: From Theory Into Practice, prepared for the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, September 2024
• Western Companies Are Still Fueling Russia’s War Machine, Financial Times, 23 July 2024.
• Russian Economy on War Footing, Centre for Economic Policy Research, May 2024.
• Russia’s New Economy May End Up Prolonging its War, Peterson Institute, 24 July 2024.
• The Oil Price Cap and Embargo on Russia Are Working Imperfectly, and Defects Must Be Fixed, Peterson Institute, 13 July 2023.
• International Sanctions and Limits of Lerner Symmetry, AEA Papers & Proceedings, May 2023.
• The U.S. Technology Fueling Russia’s War in Ukraine: How and Why, Congressional Testimony, 24 February 2024.
• Sanctions and the Exchange Rate, 18 February 2023.

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