#Review: The Great Sanctions Hack by Urjit Patel

Reading The Great Sanctions Hack felt like stepping into a world we all vaguely know exists—but rarely pause to understand. Urjit Patel breaks down the idea of sanctions with a clarity I genuinely appreciated. As someone who isn’t an economist by training, I found the book surprisingly accessible, especially in the way it traces how sanctions ripple across governments, markets, and, ultimately, ordinary people. His argument—that sanctions are often slow, inconsistent, and sometimes counterproductive—comes through with convincing detail.

But I’ll admit, the book can feel dense in parts. Patel’s expertise is unquestionable, yet there are sections where the analysis becomes so technical that I had to slow down and reread. Readers who prefer narrative-driven economics might wish for more stories and fewer statistics.

That said, what stood out to me was the timeliness of the book. In a world where geopolitical tensions seem to escalate every month, Patel’s call for a more data-driven, transparent, and fair approach to sanctions feels not just reasonable but urgent. Despite its occasional heaviness, the book left me with a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how fragile global stability really is—and how much smarter our policy tools need to become.

Find this book here.