中等程度的改善

在固定资产方面，假定对所有产品的影响是相同的的情况下，任何通胀，在一开始会有改善周转率的效果。这是因为销售额会立即反映新的价格水平。但固定资产会逐渐反映价格的变化。当前的资产逐渐消耗掉，新的资产反映新的价格水平。很明显，一个公司的固定资产替换过程越慢，固定资产周转率上升的越多。但是当替换过程完成后，这一上升就停止了。假定通货膨胀率是固定的，那么销售额和固定资产将随通货膨胀率一起上升。

总结一下。通胀将引起周转率在一定程度的上升。由于“后进先出”会计方式，也会带来一些周转率的改善。如果通胀加速，由于销售额增速超过固定资产增速，也会改善周转率。但是，所有这些改善都是中等程度的，没有达到明显改善资本回报率的程度。从1965到1975这10年间，虽然通胀总体加速，企业广泛应用“后进先出”会计方式，财富500强企业的周转率只从1.18比1提高到了1.29比1。

便宜的债务杠杆呢？不太可能。高通胀通常导致借贷成本昂贵而不是便宜。快速增长的通胀创造了快速增长的资本需求。但是发放贷款的一方越来越不相信长期合同，变得更苛求。即使通货膨胀率不进一步上升，债务杠杆也会变得更加昂贵。因为目前公司帐面的借贷成本低于替换成新的贷款后的成本。而替换新的贷款需要等目前的贷款到期。总的来看，未来的债务杠杆成本的变化会轻度压缩资本回报率。

更多的杠杆呢？美国企业已经用了够多的债务杠杆了。财富500强的数据就是证明。在1975年之前的20年里，财富500强的股东权益占总资产的比例从63%降到了50%以下。换句话说，每一美金的资本已经比过去利用了更高的债务杠杆。

巴菲特：《通货膨胀如何欺诈股票投资者》（八）

The gains are apt to be modest

In the case of fixed assets, any rise in the inflation rate, assuming it affects all products equally, will initially have the effect of increasing turnover. That is true because sales will immediately reflect the new price level, while the fixed-asset account will reflect the change only gradually, i.e., as existing assets are retired and replaced at the new prices. Obviously, the more slowly a company goes about this replacement process, the more the turnover ratio will rise. The action stops, however, when a replacement cycle is completed. Assuming a constant rate of inflation, sales and fixed assets will then begin to rise in concert at the rate of inflation.

To sum up, inflation will produce some gains in turnover ratios. Some improvement would be certain because of LIFO, and some would be possible (if inflation accelerates) because of sales rising more rapidly than fixed assets. But the gains are apt to be modest and not of a magnitude to produce substantial improvement in returns on equity capital. During the decade ending in 1975, despite generally accelerating inflation and the extensive use of LIFO accounting, the turnover ratio of the FORTUNE 500 went only from 1.18/1 to 1.29/1.

Cheaper leverage? Not likely. High rates of inflation generally cause borrowing to become dearer, not cheaper. Galloping rates of inflation create galloping capital needs; and lenders, as they become increasingly distrustful of long-term contracts, become more demanding. But even if there is no further rise in interest rates, leverage will be getting more expensive because the average cost of the debt now on corporate books is less than would be the cost of replacing it. And replacement will be required as the existing debt matures. Overall, then, future changes in the cost of leverage seem likely to have a mildly depressing effect on the return on equity.

More leverage? American business already has fired many, if not most, of the more-leverage bullets once available to it. Proof of that proposition can be seen in some other FORTUNE 500 statistics - in the twenty years ending in 1975, stockholders' equity as a percentage of total assets declined for the 500 from 63 percent to just under 50 percent. In other words, each dollar of equity capital now is leveraged much more heavily than it used to be.