Sanctions and counter-sanctions -what are their economic effects in Russia and elsewhere?

Abstract

In this note I review the literature on the economic effects of sanctions against Russia and Russia's own counter-sanctions. There are papers looking at the macroeconomic effects of sanctions as well as their effects on international trade and financial flows. All such papers must also deal with the collapse of oil price, which happened almost concurrently with the introduction of sanctions. Most papers find a negative effect of sanctions on Russia's general economic development since 2014. This effect most likely operates both via foreign trade and decreasing foreign capital flows into Russia. Moreover, Russia's own counter-sanctions have a clear negative effect on the well-being of an average Russian household.