A new report from the IPPR and Common Wealth think tanks found that in 2022 big businesses increased inflation by passing on larger cost increases to consumers than they needed, to protect their margins.

The joint report found that on average, normal business profits were 30% higher by the end of 2022 than they were at the end of 2019.

The researchers found that big businesses caused inflation to “peak higher and remain more persistent,” especially within the sectors of oil and gas, food production, and commodities.

The report added, “We argue that market power by some corporations and in some sectors – including temporary market power emerging in the aftermath of the pandemic – amplified inflation.”

The report noted that while this did not definitely mean big business was seeing its overall profit margins increasing, it did mean the brunt of the effects of the higher prices was being borne by consumers.

The report noted, “Companies with (temporary) market power seemed to be able to protect their margins or even reap ‘excess profits’, setting prices higher than would be socially and economically beneficial.”

The report pointed out that the excess profits were even bigger in the United States, where powerful corporations dominate many important sectors of the economy.

It said, “Because energy and food prices feed so significantly into costs across all sectors of the wider economy, this exacerbated the initial price shock – contributing to inflation peaking higher and lasting longer than had there been less market power.”

The report’s authors examined financial reports from 1,350 companies which were listed in the UK, US, Germany, Brazil, and South Africa. Of those companies, Shell, ExxonMobil, Glencore, and Kraft Heinz were all identified as having increased their company profits the most from their pre-pandemic averages.