Economic sanctions and inducements are types of ‘policy instruments’ based on ‘economic tools’ to influence other international actors. Ongoing debates on sanctions and inducements have exposed drawbacks for relying on individual case studies. There are some studies in the literature that attempt theoretical analysis of sanctions and inducements, but they are mostly based on rational choice theory. In reality, however, there exist so many cases that cannot be explained by rational choice theory. These are called anomalies or exceptions. The literature introduces specific variables to interpret these anomalies and thus sacrifice the universality of the theory.