NPR.

Maybe the hottest, furious economics debate that's been happening recently has been this

idea of corporate greed.

Some unorthodox economists and many commentators have been saying that there is a clear villain

in all this inflation drama.

Corporations.

Meanwhile traditional economists talk about recent inflation being caused by other forces,

demand and supply.

And this debate matters because it suggests different ways that policymakers should respond

to inflation.

Like if it's all greedy corporations, then maybe we want to consider price controls.

Or if it's too much demand, then lifting interest rates should be the trick to rein back all

of that consumer spending.

And some economists have tried testing these two hypotheses to see which is true.

This is the intercation from planet money, I'm Darren Woods.

Today the consumer price index inflation numbers for May came out.

Prices are now 4% higher than a year ago.

Now that is heading in the right direction, but it is still way higher than the federal

reserves target of 2%.

So what better time to look at the evidence on greed flasher?

To down the show, an economist who ran the numbers on corporate greed.

Did it support greed flasher?

...