IPD AI Insights

A Proposal for Russian Asset Seizure

07/24/2024
Policy Brief

Congress passed the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act (REPO), which authorizes President Biden to confiscate Russian sovereign assets held in the United States and use the money to help rebuild Ukraine and stave off the Russian invasion.

Biden should use this power—to shrink the Russian central bank’s balance sheet, potentially devalue the ruble and prompt bank runs within Russia, and weaken the bank’s ability to extend credit—which might ultimately undermine Putin’s military production capacity.

Joseph Stiglitz
President
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)

Joseph E. Stiglitz is President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, and Chairman of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. He is University Professor at Columbia, teaching in its Economics Department, its Business School, and its School of International and Public Affairs. He chaired the UN Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, created in the aftermath of the financial crisis by the President of the General Assembly. He is former Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank and Chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2001.

Andrew Kosenko

Andrew Kosenko is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Finance at the School of Management at Marist College. He received his PhD in economics from Columbia in 2018. Prior to Marist, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

US sanctions against RussiaReport published as part of 9 policy briefs on what has happened, what is working, and what’s next for Russian sanctions

https://www.brookings.edu/collection/us-sanctions-against-russia/

Past Event: Sanctions on Russia: What’s working? What’s not?In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. and its allies imposed an unprecedented set of sanctions on the Russian economy including restrictions on Russian imports of high-tech goods, limits on Russia’s revenues through a price cap on its oil exports, and financial sanctions against Russian banks and government entities. Although there are many clear sanction successes, Russia’s economy to date has proved more resilient than many expected, and sanctions have not deterred Putin’s aggressive military campaign. On May 28, the Economic Studies and Foreign Policy programs at Brookings considered the effectiveness of the sanctions and ways to tighten them with the release of a series of working papers and a conversation. Daleep Singh, deputy White House national security advisor for international economics, delivered keynote comments. His remarks were followed by a panel with economist Yuriy Gorodnichenko of the University of California-Berkeley, who wrote one of the essays, Agathe Demarais of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Brookings Senior Fellow Fiona Hill. The panel was moderated by Reuters Diplomatic Correspondent Arshad Mohammed. Viewers joined the conversation and ask questions of the speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or on X/Twitter at @BrookingsEcon and/or @BrookingsFP using the hashtag #Sanctions.

https://www.brookings.edu/events/sanctions-on-russia-whats-working-whats-not/

Highlights from an expert discussion of the US sanctions regimeHighlights from the panel discussion on how are sanctions against Russia are affecting the war in Ukraine and Q&A.