Inflation and the evolution of corporate profit margins

Article published in the Economic Review of 2023

Economists at the National Bank of Belgium have found no evidence of widespread “greedflation” in Belgium. With that in mind, how should recent changes in corporate profit margins be understood from a long-term perspective? What are the structural factors at play? To what extent do profit margins reflect firm-level realities and were corporate profits a driver of the recent surge in inflation?

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