© 2026 Milwaukee Public Media is a service of UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Do Sanctions Work?

ATTA KENARE
/
AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. has used sanctions to do everything from catching specific drug traffickers, to destabilizing government regimes. But sanctions are a blunt tool and they don't always achieve their goal. Moreover, they can miss the target and hurt the wrong people. Still, there are some steps a government can take to help ensure sanctions achieve their goals.

Music by. Find us:Twitter/Facebook.

Subscribe to our show onApple Podcasts,PocketCastsandNPR One.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money, and is a correspondent for Planet Money.
Cardiff Garcia is a co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast, along with Stacey Vanek Smith. He joined NPR in November 2017.