Esfandyar Batmanghelidj is the Founder of Bourse & Bazaar, a think tank focused on issues of economic diplomacy and development in the Middle East and Central Asia, and particularly Iran.

October 9, 2024

Analysis

Adaptation in the Sanctioned Economy

Domestic manufacturing, overcapacity, and the limits of Iran’s economic resilience

The oil boom of the late 2000s created significant headwinds for Iranian manufacturers. As the value of oil exports surged, the Iranian rial appreciated, real wages rose, and foreign goods flooded the Iranian market. Middle-class families relished in their newfound…

August 23, 2023

Analysis

Coercion and Inequality

The distributional effects of sanctions in Iran

“Plumbing” is an oft-used metaphor for understanding how sanctions work. Sanctions are intended to stop the flow of money to the targeted government; reserves are frozen, trade is blocked, export revenues dry up, and government budgets are drained. Even the…

February 18, 2023

Reviews

The Sanctions Age

On Agathe Demarais’s “Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against US Interests”

Charles De Gaulle declared in 1961, “A great state which does not possess [nuclear weapons]… does not command its own destiny.” France became the world’s fourth nuclear power in 1960 following the Gerboise Bleue nuclear test. Yet the command of…