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Probably worth reading the article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/inflation-prices-buying-habits/676191/Americans are spending more even accounting for higher prices, and not just on essentials. Author posits supply & demand. If anyone has any evidence to the “greedflation” hypothesis I am all ears
here’s some evidence that you could’ve easily googled yourself
- https://accountable.us/corporate-greedflation-vastly-outpaced-inflation-senator-caseys-report-affirms/
- https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/pennsylvania-senator-bob-casey-greedflation-report-price-gouging/
- https://www.advisorperspectives.com/articles/2022/07/04/is-greedflation-real-and-how-should-that-question-be-answered
interesting tone. ty for these ill check them out
edit: that final article doesn’t seem to draw a conclusion about greedflation, but I could’ve missed it
Corporations will, of course, raise prices if the market will bear it. Our commitment to capitalism and free markets allows that this is okay (it is “fair”) as long as the market is one that is free, competitive, and transparent.
and what about this take here?
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1182019025Im not some pro-business guy, I just like to be informed by evidence
The reality is that corporate profits are outpacing inflation right now. However, the reality is that inflation itself is caused by people who own businesses choosing to raise prices. These people calculate that they can gouge people more and they do that. It’s that simple.
The NPR segment notes that while there were some record profits temporarily coinciding with inflation, there is zero (0.00) correlation across the economy (in their sample).
I also found this article discussing corporate profits and their impact on inflation more directly:
in 2021, corporate profits could account for about double that, nearly 60% of inflation, meaning it was not costs driving inflation. It was corporate profits. Now, some economists hear this and think this is proof that companies were just using inflation as an excuse to gouge customers. Andrew does not think this.
Companies reacted to inflation, supply chain worries, forecasted costs etc. and overshot, at least that’s what is presented above.
It seems like all the usual causes of inflation are at hand, and corporations are partially to blame (per usual), but everything is naturally more complex and more shades of gray than we care to admit.
Of course there are always many different factors that come together to cause an inflation. However, corporate profiteering is clearly one of the major factors here. As the articles I linked above explain, the rate of profit has increased since the pandemic, so it’s not just companies raising prices to make up for higher costs.
