3.Hunger and famine are not accidents — they are created by....

But researchers are reporting that food inflation is also partly caused by producers, especially large firms, putting up prices to increase their profits. Sellers can do this if they know that a buyer has no choice but to pay more to obtain things they cannot do without, such as food and fuel — a phenomenon that researchers call sellers’ inflation. That might be one reason that inflation remains stubbornly high, especially when it comes to food, and that interventions such as raising interest rates have failed to reduce it.

但研究人员报告说，食品价格上涨的部分原因是生产商，尤其是大公司，通过提高价格来增加利润。如果卖家知道买家别无选择，只能花更多的钱来获得他们离不开的东西，比如食物和燃料，他们就会这么做——研究人员将这种现象称为卖家通胀。这可能是通胀居高不下的原因之一，尤其是在食品方面，而加息等干预措施未能降低通胀。

This is the conclusion of two working papers led by Isabella Weber, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In a modelling study published last November, Weber and her co-authors found that the prices of food and energy are the two largest drivers of inflation (I. M. Weber et al. Economics Department Working Paper Series 340; 2022). In a subsequent study, in February, the authors sampled a group of US companies in these sectors and discovered that in 2022, profits were responsible for as much inflation as wages, if not more (I. M. Weber and E. Wasner Economics Department Working Paper Series 343; 2023).

这是马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校(University of Massachusetts Amherst)经济学家伊莎贝拉•韦伯(Isabella Weber)领导的两篇工作论文得出的结论。在去年11月发表的一项模型研究中，韦伯和她的合著者发现，食品和能源价格是通货膨胀的两个最大驱动因素。经济系工作文件系列340;2022)。在今年2月的一项后续研究中，作者对这些行业的一组美国公司进行了抽样调查，发现到2022年，利润对通胀的影响与工资一样大，甚至更大(I. M. Weber和E. Wasner Economics Department Working Paper Series 343;2023)。

Weber’s work is sparking change among some governments and getting attention from financial institutions. The International Monetary Fund found last month that corporate profits accounted for nearly half of inflation in the euro area last year (N.-J. H. Hansen et al. IMF Working Paper No. 2023/131; 2023).

韦伯的研究在一些政府中引发了变革，并引起了金融机构的关注。国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)上个月发现，去年欧元区企业利润占通胀的近一半。H. Hansen等人。基金组织第2023/131号工作文件;2023)。