ChinaTalk Economic Warfare: Implications for Sanctions Today
6 snips
Mar 8, 2023 Nick Mulder, author of "The Economic Weapon," delves into the role of economic sanctions throughout history. He discusses how the Great Depression paradoxically lowered commodity prices, impacting protectionism in Germany and Japan. Mulder introduces the concept of "temporal claustrophobia" in Japan’s decision-making. The discussion includes North Korea's resilience against fuel embargoes and the lessons modern policymakers can learn from pre-WWII sanctions, highlighting parallels with today’s semiconductor export controls.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
League of Nations' Power
- Italy's 1935 sanctions demonstrated the League of Nations' surprising power, alarming Germany and Japan.
- This pushed them towards prioritizing economic models immune to raw material import restrictions.
Great Depression's Impact on Imports
- The Great Depression counterintuitively made commodity imports cheaper, highlighting a weakness for Germany and Japan.
- This vulnerability prompted Germany to pursue "rawstofffreiheit" (raw materials freedom) through the Four-Year Plan.
Autarky vs. Autarchy
- Autarky (with 'ch') means self-rule, while autarky (with 'k') means self-sufficiency.
- Striving for complete self-sufficiency can paradoxically limit political independence, potentially leading to conquest.
