What are the economic effects of sanctions?

Although economic sanctions can have a devastating effect in some circumstances, their impact is more often fairly limited, even on the targeted country. In most cases sanctions are not intended to inflict the maximum possible economic damage. And even when they are, a number of factors can prevent them from being fully effective, or mean that their effects only build up over a period of years. Having said that, the most high profile sanctions regimes currently in operation – against Iran and Russia – are both having a significant economic impact.