Contribution of Corporate Profits to Inflation in Türkiye after Covid-19

Abstract

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a major cost of living crisis in the world while corporate profits reached historical records. Words such as “sellers’ inflation”, “greedflation” have become increasingly popular all over the world. While Türkiye is experiencing the highest inflation in 2022 in her late history, she remained disconnected with those discussions until very recently. This study tries to shed light on the developments in inflation and unit profits during the pandemic period in Türkiye by using the GDP deflator decomposition method. As far as we know, the study will be the first attempt in Türkiye in terms of the methodology used. The findings show that the highest contribution to inflation in Türkiye during the pandemic period arose from the increase in unit profits. In this framework, it is determined that the sectors that contribute the most to domestic inflation are the manufacturing industry, transportation, and the trade sectors. Although the GDP deflator decomposition method does not provide information on the causality between inflation and unit profits, the findings suggest that the corporate sector in Türkiye cannot be labeled as the victim of the inflation wave during the pandemic, but rather the profiting from the process. The share of income received by the corporate sector in the pandemic reached an all-time high, while the percentage share received by the employee fell to historic lows.

Keywords

• Covid-19
• Sellers’ Inflation
• Corporate Profits
• Unit Profit
• Unit Labor Cost

Covid-19 Sonrası Türkiye’de Şirket Kârlarının Enflasyona Katkısı

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemisinin ardından dünyada büyük bir yaşam maliyeti krizi yaşanırken, şirket kârları da rekorlar kırmıştır. Tüm dünyada “satıcıların enflasyonu”, “fırsatçıflasyon” gibi kelimeler giderek popüler hale gelmiştir. Türkiye, 2022’de yakın tarihinin en yüksek enflasyonunu yaşarken, çok yakın zamana kadar, bu tartışmalara uzak kalmıştır. Bu çalışma GSYH deflatör ayrıştırma yöntemini kullanarak, Türkiye’de pandemi döneminde yaşanan enflasyonla birim kârdaki gelişmelere ışık tutmaya çalışmıştır. Bildiğimiz kadarıyla çalışma kullandığı yöntem itibariyle Türkiye’de ilk deneme olacaktır. Elde edilen bulgular pandemi döneminde Türkiye’de gerçekleşen enflasyona en yüksek katkının birim kâr artışından geldiğini göstermektedir. Yine bu çerçevede yurtiçi enflasyona en çok katkı veren sektörlerin, imalat sanayi, ulaştırma ve ticaret sektörleri olduğu tespit edilmiştir. GSYH deflatör ayrıştırma yöntemi enflasyonla birim kâr arasında nedensellik ilişkisi hakkında bilgi vermemekle beraber, bulgular Türkiye’de şirketler kesiminin pandemide yaşanan enflasyon dalgasının mağduru olmadığını, aksine süreçten kârlı çıktığını göstermektedir. Şirketler kesiminin pandemide gelirden aldığı pay tüm zamanların en yüksek seviyesine çıkarken, çalışanların aldığı pay tarihi düşük seviyelere gerilemiştir.

Keywords

• Covid-19
• Satıcıların Enflasyonu
• Şirket Kârları
• Birim Kâr
• Birim İşgücü Maliyeti

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