Inflation is seeping through American business, hitting companies in unexpected ways beyond higher prices for materials, shipping or wages.

It is adding to legal costs for the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, driving up the bill for auto repairs at Allstate Corp. ALL 0.08% , prompting people to pay less of their credit-card balances and stoking concerns of shrinking ad spending at social-media companies…

“It kind of cascades from initially a small set of goods to a much larger set of goods,” said Chester Spatt, who was chief economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2004 to 2007 and is now a professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rising prices aren’t the main problem with inflation, he said; it is that prices are rising by different amounts at different times. As some prices rise more than others, companies and consumers might change their spending plans, something that can affect the economy as a whole.