Profiteering
Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical.[1][2][page needed]
Overview
[edit]Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency (especially a war).[3][page needed] The term is also applied to businesses that play on political corruption to obtain government contracts.
Some types of profiteering are illegal, such as price fixing[4][page needed] syndicates, for example on fuel subsidies (see British Airways price-fixing allegations), and other anti-competitive behaviour. Some are restricted by industry codes of conduct, e.g. aggressive marketing of products in the Third World such as baby milk (see Nestlé boycott).
Types of profiteering
[edit]Laws
[edit]Profiteering is illegal in several countries, including but not limited to:
- UK: Chapter 1 of the Competition Act 1998
- Germany: § 291 StGB (Criminal Code) – up to 10 years' jail maximum penalty
- Austria: § 154 StGB – up to 5 years' jail maximum penalty
See also
[edit]
- Enshittification
- Hoarding (economics)
- Business ethics
- Price gouging
- Product sabotage
- Rent seeking
- Supracompetitive pricing
- Ticket scalping
- Usury
Example cases
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Profiteering". Oxford Learners Dictionaries.
- ^ Ray, S. K. (2004). Polity And Economy Of The Underworld. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 978-8120325777.
- ^ Hughes, Solomon (2007). War on Terror, Inc: corporate profiteering from the politics of fear. Verso. ISBN 978-1844671236.
- ^ Neuwirth, Robert (2011). Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy. Random House Digital, Inc. ISBN 978-0307906809.
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