Economic warfare: lessons from history, with Mark Harrison

Economic warfare: lessons from history, with Mark Harrison

From The Economics Show by Financial Times

April 2, 2026 · 26 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the effectiveness of economic warfare tools through historical examples with Mark Harrison.

Warring countries have attacked each other’s economies for hundreds of years. But do the tools of economic warfare – sanctions, tariffs, blockades and embargoes – actually work? Soumaya speaks to Mark Harrison, emeritus professor of economics at Warwick university, and co-editor (with Stephen Broadberry) of Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688 , about what centuries of economic conflict can teach us about Iran (and Russia) today. Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple , Spotify , Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Further reading:  Which chokepoint wins in a game of geoeconomic Top Trumps? Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music by Breen Turner and sound design by Sean McGarrity. The FT head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Soumaya Keynes

Guest: Mark Harrison

Topics covered

  • economic warfare
  • sanctions
  • tariffs
  • blockades
  • embargoes
  • historical lessons
  • Iran and Russia

Keywords

  • economic warfare
  • sanctions
  • tariffs
  • blockades
  • embargoes
  • Iran
  • Russia
  • history
  • economics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Warwick university, Financial Times, Acast

Books & works: Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688

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