Published in Phenomenal World, authors Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Zep Kalb take a look at the “distributional effects” of sanctions and whether they actually facilitate greater economic inequality and the concentration of wealth among the elite in Iran. They argue that to really understand sanctions, one must investigate how actors in a complex system relate to one another, and how changes in those relationships can change the system itself.

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Zep Kalb, “Coercion and Inequality: The distributional effects of sanctions in Iran,” Phenomenal World, 23 August 2023.