Editing Profiteering

{{Short description|Act of making a profit by methods considered unethical}}
'''Profiteering''' is a [[pejorative]] term for the act of making a [[Profit (economics)|profit]] by methods considered [[ethics|unethical]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Profiteering |work=Oxford Learners Dictionaries |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/profiteering }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Ray | first1 = S. K. | title = Polity And Economy Of The Underworld | year = 2004 | publisher = PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd | isbn = 978-8120325777}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}}

==Overview==
[[Business]] owners may be accused of profiteering when they [[price gouging|raise prices]] during an emergency ([[War profiteering|especially a war]]).<ref>{{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 }}</ref>{{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]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}} syndicates, for example on [[fuel subsidies]] (see ''[[History of British Airways#2005: Willie Walsh era|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==
*[[Price fixing]]
*[[Price gouging]]
*[[War 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==
{{Wiktionary|profiteer}}
* [[Enshittification]]
* [[Hoarding (economics)]]
* [[Business ethics]]
* [[Price gouging]]
* [[Product sabotage]]
* [[Rent seeking]]
* [[Supracompetitive pricing]]
* [[Ticket scalping]]
* [[Usury]]

===Example cases===
*[[History of British Airways#2005: Willie Walsh era|British Airways price-fixing allegations]]
*[[List of price fixing cases]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Profiteering (Business)}}
[[Category:Business terms]]
[[Category:Profit]]


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