Black market: essence, types and current state of affairs

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Where there are some permissions, there are prohibitions, and prohibitions always cause a desire to get around them. One of the integral parts of the economy is the black market. What it is, whether it has any advantages for the country and individual citizens, and how participants in such trade are punished, will be analyzed in this article.

What is the black market and how is it formed

When there are restrictions or a strict ban on the trade of any product, there are always people who want to get it.

If there is a demand, there is also a supply, this is how the black market is born. People who can get the product they are looking for offer it to others in various ways and earn a profit in return. It should be noted that black trading is much more profitable than legally, for both the seller and the buyer. First, the seller sets the price himself, ignoring antitrust laws and market-driven rules. If it is a special product, then it may not have competition, and therefore prices are setjust cosmic. For the buyer, transactions on the black market are beneficial, because the price of the goods excludes the payment of taxes and government fees, which somewhat reduces the cost. Secondly, on the black market you can get anything that may be prohibited by the laws of the state or society, from drugs to human organs.

Who controls the black market

In addition to the participants, the driving force behind the black market are its organizers. Usually, goods for sale on the black market are associated with smuggling - where else does it come from, for example, weapons or drugs in circulation? It is not difficult to guess that organized crime controls the black market.

The very act of transferring rights to goods occurs through very complex connections between buyers and intermediaries or sellers, and this is not surprising, because all participants in illegal operations become objects of prosecution by controlling government agencies.

What can you buy on the black market

In addition to absolutely harmless types of goods banned by the state for one reason or another, people and ammunition can be purchased on the black market. Examples of such markets:

1. Alcohol. Despite the fact that "flammable liquid" is legal for sale in most countries, for residents of those places where the prohibition is in force, alcohol is available only on black markets. Today, these are Muslim states, where even the possession of alcohol is a reason for imprisonment.into custody.

2. Black market for weapons. According to official data, the legal sale of weapons significantly exceeds the turnover of them and ammunition on the black market. Yet such a market has been operating since the 1980s.

3. Trade in stolen antiques and works of art. Occurs mainly through online auctions and is carefully monitored by regulatory authorities in order to bring both the seller and the potential buyer to justice.

4. Rare species of reptiles, birds and animals, sale of smuggled black and red caviar. In addition to the fact that these crimes are immoral, participants in such trade can go to prison for a term of 3 years or more.

5. Selling people is the slave trade. One of the heaviest crimes that exist. Some countries carry the death pen alty for the slave trade.

6. Prostitution, sale of sexual services.

7. Sale of erotic materials, porn products where prohibited.

8. Sale of human organs for operations (clonelegging). Most often, the donors are completely ordinary people and children who become the objects of abduction.

9. Sale of fake documentation. Prosecuted by law in any country, the term of imprisonment is from 3 years.

10. Sale of drugs. The law punishes not only sellers, but also buyers.

11. Sale of software for hacking computer programs.

How was the sale on the black market in Soviet times

If the turnover is illegal, then the sale and purchase operationscarried out in a slightly different way, and not in the usual, familiar to buyers. In the days of the Soviet Union, when not only alcohol, but even ordinary jeans and other imported products were banned, the “black market” was so widespread that even stable expressions appeared among the people denoting illegal trade: “get it by pull”, “buy from under the floor", "trade from the back door", "get it from under the counter".

It was no coincidence, because flaunting in fashionable things, buying good equipment, books, foreign recordings was possible only underground, through acquaintances, in rented apartments and through nominees, because speculation was prosecuted and punished by imprisonment.

In addition, the profession of a "farmer" was also widespread, that is, a speculator in imported things ("firm"). It should be noted that they traded not only genuine goods from abroad, but also consumer goods hand-made in the so-called "workshops" in order to make a profit.

How is illegal trade going today

Criminal trade in illegal products today is carried out in very different ways than before, although the essence has not changed. Where does the black market operate and how can smuggled goods be found?

The most popular way is to use the Web. Forums, chats, communities on a topic of interest - everywhere there are just curious people, as well as people related to illegal business. In addition, auctions are often held, whereyou can buy stolen works of art. You just need to know which resource to go to.

Once a potential buyer and seller of contraband find each other, they can meet on neutral ground, usually with an intermediary, and complete the deal.