Black Market

Definitions: Black Market

Black Market

Noun

1. People who engage in illicit trade.

2. An illegal market in which goods or currencies are bought and sold in violation of rationing or controls.

Verb

1. Deal in illegally, such as arms or liquor.

Specialty Definitions: Black Market

Domain	Definitions
Business	A market on which goods or currency are bought and sold in a way which is not allowed by law. Source: European Union. (references)
Economics	Buying or selling of products that violate government restrictions. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Black market

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The black market is the sector of economic activity in a jurisdiction involving illegal activities. Depending on the sense in which the term is used, this can primarily refer to illegally avoiding tax payments, to the profits of narcotic trafficking, or profits made from theft. It is so called because "black economy" or "black market" affairs are conducted outside the law, and so are necessarily conducted "in the dark", out of sight of the law.

Black markets exist when the state places restrictions on the production or provision of goods and services that come into conflict with market demands. These markets prosper, then, when state restrictions are heavy, such as during prohibition or rationing. However, black markets are normally present in any given economy; where there are laws, someone will break them.

Black market price

As a direct result of an increase in government restrictions, black market prices for the relevant products will rise, as said restrictions represent a decrease in supply. According to the theory of supply and demand, a decrease in supply -- making the product more scarce -- will increase prices, other things being equal. Similarly, increased enforcement of restrictions will increase prices for the same reason.

Goods acquired illegally can take one of two price levels; they may be less expensive than (legal) market prices, because the supplier did not incur the normal costs of production. Alternatively, illegally supplied products may be more expensive than normal prices, because the product in question is difficult to acquire, and may not be available legally.

In the former case, however, most people are likely to continue to purchase the products in question from legal suppliers, for a number of reasons:

The consumer may feel that the black market supplier conducts business immorally (although this criticism can extend to legal suppliers too);
The consumer may -- justifiably -- trust legal suppliers more, as they are both easier to contact in case of faults in the product and easier to hold accountable;
In some countries, it is a criminal offence to handle stolen goods, a factor which will discourage buyers.

Black market prices can be reduced by removing the relevant legal restrictions, and so increasing supply. Alternatively, the government could attempt to decrease demand. However, this is economically out of fashion and not as simple a process as decreasing supply.

Examples of black markets

The Prohibition period in the United States is a classic example of black market activity, when organised crime groups took advantage of the lucrative opportunities in the resulting black market in banned alcohol production and sales.

In many countries today, a "war on drugs" has created a similar effect for goods such as marijuana.

Similarly since prostitution is illegal in many places, a black market develops.

See also: business ethics, grey market

Compare: informal economy

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black market."

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Synonym: Black Market

Synonym: run (v). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Black Market

English words defined with "black market": black, black marketeer ♦ calamitous ♦ disastrous ♦ fatal, fateful ♦ scalp. (references)

Specialty definitions using "black market": Alternative Measures of income, ANCILLARY SERVICES. (references)

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Modern Usage: Black Market

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Yeah, we should start dealing in those black market beagles. (Firefly; writing credit: John Sullivan) Let's cut out their kidneys and sell them to the black market and leave them in a seedy motel bathtub full of ice. (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; writing credit: Kevin Smith)
Lyrics	At the Hotel Flamingo, wearin black market shoes (Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First); performing artist: John Mellencamp; writing credit: John Mellencamp and George Green)
Movie/TV Titles	Black Market Babies (1945)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Black Market

Domain	Title
Books	Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species (reference) Black Market (reference) Black Market Babies (reference) Black Market Operations (reference) Black Market Pneuma (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Black Market Baby (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Black Market [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] (reference) Black Market Music [Bonus Tracks] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Black Market

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		Some say that informal and black market cardiology-related imports could be as high as 30 percent. (references)
		Adding to this unofficial estimates of informal and black market activities, the total textile market amounts to between $9 and $12 billion. (references)
		In 1992, the GOE set the exchange rate and allowed what were formerly black market exchange houses to act lawfully under the supervision of the CBE. In the past, the black market served businessmen and individuals travelling abroad. (references)
Children	Moldova	One orphanage director lost his job for selling the food earmarked for the children on the black market. (references)
Economic History	Cuba (09/01)	Many have opted to enter the informal economy or black market. (references)
	Uzbekistan	The curb or black market for foreign currency is active, but illegal. (references)
Human Rights	Bangladesh	Under the SPA the Government or a district magistrate may order a person detained for 30 days to prevent the commission of an act likely "to prejudice the security of the country." Other offenses subject to the SPA include smuggling, black market activity, or hoarding. (references)
	Cuba	Citizen participation in these mass organizations has declined; the economic crisis both has reduced the Government's ability to provide material incentives for their participation and has forced many persons to engage in black market activities, which the mass organizations are supposed to report to the authorities. (references)
Political Economy	BAHRAIN	Bahrain has no black market or parallel exchange rate. (references)
Trade	Burma	In the face of increasing restrictions and slow business climate, a number of foreign firms have closed their doors, and there has been an upsurge in smuggling and black market trading. (references)
Worker Rights	Cuba	Corruption and black market activities were pervasive. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Black Market

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
black market	330	black market umbrella	4
black market record	87	black market records.com	4
black market baby	20	black market part	4
black market press	20	black market satellite	3
black market mineral	19	activity black market	3
black market white	18	black market store	3
black market music	13	black market rap	3
black market movie	11	black market video	3
placebo black market music	8	black market toronto	3
adoption black market	8	black market record sacramento	2
black market weapon	7	black market paintball	2
black market organs	7	black market monday stock	2
black market steroid	6	black market software	2
black market press.com	6	black market underground	2
black market online	5	black market product	2
black market sex	5	black market rauschenberg	2
black market porn	5	black market store white	2
black market viagra	4	angus antique black market	2
black market nicky	4	black market organ transplant	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Black Market

Language		Translations for "black market"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏سوق سوداء. (various references)

Bulgarian		черна борса. (various references)

Danish		sorte boers, sort marked. (various references)

Dutch		zwarte markt. (various references)

Finnish		musta pörssi. (various references)

French		marché noir. (various references)

German		Schwarzmarkt, schwarzhandel (black-marketeering). (various references)

Greek		μαύρη αγορά. (various references)

Hungarian		feketepiac (illegal trade). (various references)

Italian		borsanera, borsa nera, mercato nero. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		闇市� � , 闇市 , ブラウン管 (black, Black Africa, black box, black chamber, black coffee, black comedy, black ghetto, black hole, black humor, black journalism, black magic, black Monday, black money, Black Panther, black pepper, Black Power, black shaft, black tie, blackjack, blacklist, blackout, bland, blank, blanket, blanket area, blood bank, blood elite, bra, bra cup, bracket, Brad Pitt, branch, brand, brand image, brand loyalty, brandy, brass, brass-band, brasserie, brassie, brassiere, Bratislava, bravo, Brazil, brothers, brunch, brush, brush back pitch, brushy, Brussels, cathode-ray tube). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ブラックマーケット , やみしじょう, やみいち. (various references)

Manx		margey doo. (various references)

Pig Latin		ackblay arketmay

Portuguese		mercado negro (clandestine trade). (various references)

Russian		черный рынок. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		crna berza. (various references)

Spanish		mercado negro. (various references)

Swedish		svart marknad. (various references)

Turkish		karaborsa. (various references)

Vietnamese		chợ đen. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Misspellings: Black Market

Misspellings
	"Black Market" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: blackmarket, blaqck market, bllack market. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Anagrams: Black Market

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-b-c-e-k-k-l-m-r-t"
	-3 letters: backtalk, bracteal, cartable, clambake, crabmeat.
	-4 letters: abreact, actable, amtrack, bearcat, blacker, bracket, cabaret, cameral, caramel, ceramal, clamber, lambert, macaber, macabre, makable, ratable, tackler, takable, tamable.
	-5 letters: abater, ablate, acetal, ambler, amtrac, arable, armlet, backer, balker, becalm, bemata, blamer, cablet, calker, calmer, camber, camera, camlet, carate, cartel, claret, crambe, embark, karate, labret, lacker, lactam.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.