The Price is Not Right
Economic Power as Control Over Feasibility in International Political Economy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13100039 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dwayne Woods (0000-0002-7033-794X, Purdue University West Lafayette, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Chinese Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2365-4252 • E-ISSN: 2365-4244 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s41111-026-00341-6 |
| OpenAlex | W7140328399 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
Economists typically model power through prices or outside-option wedges. This paper develops a formal model in which economic power operates instead through control over the feasible set of economic choices. Political scientists have long understood power as control over feasibility—the ability to determine which markets and technologies remain accessible. This paper formalizes power as control over the domain of economic choice. Economic coercion is modeled as a conditional restriction on the set of feasible inputs. When inputs exhibit complementarity—low elasticity of substitution—access restrictions generate large output losses, forcing compliance by eliminating alternatives rather than through price adjustment. Vulnerability depends on technological structure, not trade volume: an economy importing 2% of GDP can be highly exposed if those inputs are non-substitutable. Approaches that assume fixed feasibility tend to conflate trade intensity with technological dependence and to model compliance as marginal adjustment rather than as a cross-regime comparison. The framework provides a formal foundation for analyzing feasibility-based power in the international political economy
Control (management · Economic model · Economic power · Forcing (mathematics · Power (physics · Vulnerability (computing · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Global trade and economics · International Relations and Foreign Policy
In the Shadow of Power
The Sources of Social Power
Currency Power
National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade
Power
Estimates of the Trade and Welfare Effects of Nafta
War and Change in World Politics
Escaping a weaponized network
The Neomercantilists
China's Export Controls on Strategic Materials
Pricing the Global Club
Economic development as self-discovery
Weaponized Interdependence
State Power and the Structure of International Trade
Global Communications and National Power
Trade Sanctions As Policy Instruments
The Hidden Hand of Economic Coercion
The microfoundations of economic sanctions
The Power of Withholding
Power in International Politics
The concept of power
The autonomous power of the state
Two Faces of Power
| Highly cited | No |
|---|