According to a Bloomberg Market Live Pulse survey of professional and retail investors, 90% of 288 respondents believe that companies in the United States and Europe have been increasing physical product prices since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020. A surge in corporate price tags and high profit margins have raised concerns as potential causes of inflation. Most survey participants agreed that tight monetary policy is an appropriate response to profit-driven price increases.
While some have proposed alternative solutions, such as using corporate tax rates to combat price gouging and strengthening antitrust regulations, most respondents expect profit margins to fall back to pre-pandemic levels. Most also believe so-called "greed inflation," where companies raise their own prices more than necessary, is unlikely to lead to lasting sticky inflation, predicting inflation will return to 2% within the next two years. (Bloomberg)