BORSA NERA. - The buying and selling of goods in violation of rationing laws and at a price considerably higher than the official price or that considered normal.
The black market is an immoral phenomenon, typical of periods of war and economic emergency. Its causes are the privations of the present, uncertainty regarding the future, instability in the purchasing power of a currency, excessive rationing, an excessively marked disproportion between the total volume of rationed and price-controlled goods and the elementary needs of the members of a community; and, still more, the selfishness expressed in the withholding of indispensable goods for purposes of exorbitant speculation or to satisfy secondary needs. The actual social spirit of a people indeed finds its infallible index in the existence or non-existence of the black market and in the proportions it assumes in times of hardship.
The repressive measures enacted by the various States against the black market are directly related to the social consciousness of their respective peoples. When manifestations of the black market are limited in number, it is not difficult to prosecute them criminally and to punish them effectively, also because in such a situation they already encounter severe condemnation in the conscience of the citizens. If, on the other hand, they are numerous and highly diversified, their effective repression becomes difficult and almost impossible. In this second case, since all the relations of social life, and especially economic relations, have been disrupted, it becomes extremely difficult to determine the degree of immorality of the black market, which, having become the common practice of the great majority of citizens, often ends by assuming the appearance of an ordinary measure of legitimate self-defence.