Publications
Version History
The Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB) is a comprehensive dataset that documents economic sanctions worldwide from 1950 to 2025. It encompasses bilateral and multilateral sanctions, detailing their types, political objectives, and degrees of success. The GSDB has undergone multiple updates to enhance its scope. The latest release comes in two versions. The GSDB-R5 extends coverage to the end of 2025 and contains 1,794 cases, compared to 1,547 in Release 4: 283 cases were added, while 36 cases from Release 4 were removed after review, either dropped or merged into existing cases. Release 5 also records the calendar month of imposition and termination wherever it could be identified. The GSDB-FS (Global Sanctions Database – Financial Sanctions) covers the 1,072 cases that involve financial measures and classifies these measures into six subtypes, from asset freezes and restrictions on financial services to exclusions from payment infrastructure such as SWIFT.
- Release 1: Published in July 2020.
- Release 2: Published in March 2021.
- Release 3: Published in June 2023.
- Release 4: Published in June 2025.
- Release 5: Working Paper published in September 2026
Research Based On The Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB)
The GSDB has been utilized in the following research projects and papers:
Financial Sanctions and International Trade: Insights from New Data
Authors: Y. Yotov, G. Felbermayr, H. Kariem, A. Kirilakha, O. Kwon, C. Syropoulos, E. Yalcin
Published in: Center for Global Policy Analysis Working Paper, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University.
The Global Sanctions Data Base - Release 4: The Heterogeneous Effects of the Sanctions on Russia
Authors: E. Yalcin, G. Felbermayr, H. Kariem, A. Kirilakha, O. Kwon, C. Syropoulos, Y. Yotov
The Global Sanctions Data Base - Release 3: COVID-19, Russia, and Multilateral Sanctions
Authors: C. Syropoulos, G. Felbermayr, A. Kirilakha, E. Yalcin, and Y.V. Yotov
Published in: Review of International Economics, 2023.
The Global Sanctions Data Base: An Update that Includes the Years of the Trump Presidency
Authors: A. Kirilakha, G. Felbermayr, C. Syropoulos, E. Yalcin, and Y.V. Yotov
Published in: The Research Handbook on Economic Sanctions, Edited by Peter A.G. van Bergeijk, 2021.
The Global Sanctions Data Base
Authors: G. Felbermayr, A. Kirilakha, C. Syropoulos, E. Yalcin, and Y. V. Yotov
Published in: European Economic Review, Volume 129, October 2020.
On the Heterogeneous Effects of Sanctions on Trade and Welfare: Evidence from the Sanctions on Iran and a New Database
Authors: G. Felbermayr, C. Syropoulos, Y. V. Yotov, and E. Yalcin
Published in: School of Economics Working Paper Series
Timing the Impact of Sanctions on Trade
Authors: M. Dai, G. Felbermayr, A. Kirilakha, C. Syropoulos, E. Yalcin, and Y. V. Yotov
Abstract: We capitalize on the latest estimation methods in the empirical gravity literature and the development of a new dataset...
On the heterogeneous effects of sanctions on trade
Authors: C. Syropoulos, G. Felbermayr, E. Yalcin, and Y.V. Yotov
Published in: Canadian Journal of Economics, 2024