Profiteering
{{Short description|Act of making a profit by methods considered unethical}}
Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical.{{Cite web|title=Profiteering |work=Oxford Learners Dictionaries |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/profiteering }}{{cite book | last1 = Ray | first1 = S. K. | title = Polity And Economy Of The Underworld | year = 2004 | publisher = PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd | isbn = 978-8120325777}}{{page needed|date=December 2016}}
Overview
Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency (especially a war).{{cite book | last1 = Hughes | first1 = Solomon | title = War on Terror, Inc: corporate profiteering from the politics of fear | publisher = Verso | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1844671236 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/waronterrorincco00hugh }}{{page needed|date=December 2016}} 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{{cite book | last1 = Neuwirth | first1 = Robert | title = Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy | publisher = Random House Digital, Inc. | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0307906809}}{{page needed|date=December 2016}} 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
==Laws==
Profiteering is illegal in several countries, including but not limited to:
- UK: Chapter 1 of the Competition Act 1998
- Germany: [https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p2638 § 291 StGB] (Criminal Code) – up to 10 years' jail maximum penalty
- Austria: [https://www.jusline.at/gesetz/stgb/paragraf/154 § 154 StGB] – up to 5 years' jail maximum penalty
See also
=Example cases=
References
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