Posted on 08/15/2006 2:21:13 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Little has changed in world purchasing power since 2003, with the exception of perennially expensive U.S. cities like New York and Chicago falling from the top, largely as a result of a weaker dollar, according to Swiss banking giant UBS.
Using the Big Mac index, the authors found it takes an average of 35 minutes of work to buy the burger globally, but disparities are huge:
** In Nairobi, 1 1/2 hours of work are needed to buy the burger with the net hourly wage there.
** In the U.S. cities of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, a maximum of 13 minutes' labor is needed, with Los Angeles having the most purchasing power.
** In Tokyo, it takes a mere 10 minutes; Bogotá, Colombia, came in last among the 70 cities surveyed at 97 minutes.
The UBS survey also rated the most expensive city based on the cost of a basket of 122 goods and services, excluding rent. Researchers found:
** Oslo, Norway, was the most expensive, followed by London, Copenhagen, Denmark, Zurich, Tokyo, Geneva and New York.
** The least expensive cities were Manila, Delhi, Buenos Aires and Bombay.
The bank also compared wages, using New York -- in fifth place -- as the base with an index of 100.
**Copenhagen was first, with an index of 118.2, followed by Oslo, Zurich and Geneva; London was in sixth, followed by Chicago, Dublin, Frankfurt and Brussels.
** At the other end was Delhi with an index of 6.1.
Source: Alexander G. Higgins, "A Tokyo paycheck buys the most," Houston Chronicle, August 15, 2006
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Wish it took me that long to eat one. < |:(~
Intresting info. Thanks
Even though a Big Mac today is really a little mac.....
I use the "Burger King Index", and it took me 0.511349273645227 mins to buy a Dbl Whopper w/ cheese, no onions, no pickles, extra mayo. Beat that, Big Mac!
Prices and Earnings, 2006 issue
http://www.ubs.com/1/ShowMedia/ubs_ch/wealth_mgmt_ch/research?contentId=103982&name=eng.pdf
How does a Big Mac get converted into Jumbo Jacks?
little is changed since 1958:
1958 Bread 25 cents a loaf 2006 $2.49 10 times the price
1958 Gas 30 cents a gallon 2006 $3.00 a gallon. 10 times the price
1958 Milk 30 cents a gallon 2006 $3.00 a gallon 10 times the price.
1958 MacDonalds hamburger 10 cents. 2006 $1.00 10 times the price.
I can not compare salaries, because in 1958, I got real minimum wages (less than $1/hour.
Have we actually come to the point where national economies are measured on the Big Mac Index?
Add meat?
it takes an average of 35 minutes of work to buy the burger
That’s faster than it takes the Big Mac to complete it’s journey through your digestive tract.
The Big Mac Index is about 20 years old. It's actually a good indicator considering that it's food yet somewhat dependent on disposable income.
We passed that point a long time ago, only in recent years people are willing to admit it. McD's puts a lot of research into their pricing structures to figure out the maximum amount of labor (translated to money) people are willing to give over for McD's food. First use of the Big Mac Index by an economist I ever saw was in the early 90s.
My Big Mac/Jumbo Jack (or as they pronounce it in Cali, "Yumbo Yack") Exchange Rate Scale is in bad need of updating.
And every time the minimum wage increases, goods rise at a larger percentage and our savings dollars decrease at an even larger percentage.
This was a sort-of joke by the "Economist" magazine a couple of decades ago to try to come up with a simple international cost index, a very difficult thing to do.
They have been reporting it ever since.
Strangely enough it turned out to be a pretty good purchasing power index.
You need to look at the entire study (link at #6 above).
A mere 1 percent of it addresses the Big Mac index. The remainder is an outstanding survey of global purchasing power parity using a variety of benchmarks (rent, hotels, cars, food, rice, etc).
Kuala Lumpur is the overall winner, IMO. Too bad Malaysia is Muslim.
I like Big Macs, but I absolutely love the BK Whopper! It reminds me of the burger-with-everything I used to get as a kid.
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