A new VoxEu Column by Prof. Jean-François Maystadt, Kampui Tsang, Johannes Biesebroeck and Nele Warrinier.
Absrtact: Economic sanctions are increasingly being used by states to penalise both other states and non-state actors. One way to assess their effectiveness in incentivising a change in behaviour is to analyse the economic harm they cause to targeted firms or entities. This column assesses the impact of US sanctions on Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, imposed after alleged human rights abuses against ethnic minority groups residing in Xinjiang. While the sanctions imposed a substantial cost in terms of expected future profitability, the Chinese government was able to shield the targeted entities from most of the direct effects, albeit at a considerable cost.