The Big Mac Index
economist.com
economist.com
Also, some people have taken to using the "iPod index" or really any uniform product that is widely available and standardized.
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2010/10/22/130757997/the-f...
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpid1505.pdf
Page 6 has the list and the weights of all goods per category. Housing is 42% of the CPI index, for example. Urban consumers vs Rural consumers are combined together, but the later tables split them out again.
People generally only talk about the single CPI number as an indicator in inflation. But a lot of work (and tables) go into that number.
The CPI is flawed, of course, like any attempt to turn 300 million peoples' worth of purchases into a single number. The Federal Reserve itself thinks that it's a little bit on the high side, not doing enough to adjust for the changes that occur when better products are introduced or when people change their purchasing behavior (e.g. switching to generic products): http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic...
> a lot of work (and tables) go into that number.
Economics is a whole field of study.
The CPI doesn't even in theory try to do that, which is why it includes CPI-U, CPI-W, and C-CPI-U, each of which is tracked raw and seasonally adjusted, and each of which contains numerous measures (not a single number), the most frequently used of which seem to be the "all items", "all items less food and energy", "food", "energy", and "gasoline" components. (And all of which relate to US urban consumers -- for CPI-U and C-CPI-U -- or a subset thereof -- for CPI-W -- which are less than 300 million people.)
The CPI, in America at least, is literally thousands of items. Probably stuff like bus pass, bread, milk, a hammer a Daisy Red Ryder BBGun, etc.
Obviously a the bbgun was a joke, but I wouldn't be surprised if bullets or ammo made the cut.
When you change the items in the basket, you make the index basically incomparable with previously used measures. That is what makes it such a juicy target for politicians. And you have to change it at some point or another, because new products get invented. For instance, if your basket does not now contain a month of cellular phone service, it needs to be updated.
For example The last UK government didn't like the new CPIH index and the ONS (office of national statistics) was told to go away and try again.
This means the basket might differ from country to country, because consumption patterns are different.
I also remember seeing something similar using the average cost of a pint of beer as a percentage of an average soldier's wages. Specifically, I remember people using it to compare the economies of fantasy worlds to our own.
I prefer this to absolute numbers as the absolute number fluctuates with the exchange rate.
ADARA Analytics
Detected tracker source URLs:
http://tag.yieldoptimizer.com/ps/ps?t=s&p=1814&pg=Page
http://tag.yieldoptimizer.com/ps/ps?t=s&p=1814&pg=Page
BlueKai
Brightcove
DoubleClick
DoubleClick Floodlight
Effective Measure
Facebook Connect
Google AdWords Conversion
Google AJAX Search API
Google+ Platform
Grapeshot
LinkedIn Widgets
Maxymiser
Omniture (Adobe Analytics)
Polar Mobile
Quantcast
Sub2
Tapad
Tealium
TRUSTe Notice
Turn Inc.
Twitter Button
ValueClick MediaIt strikes me that currency exchange rate is a very inconspicuous thing with a big effect. Unlike inflation, interest rates, or how much rent you pay--which everyone is aware of--most people don't sense changes in exchange rate, the effect of which is just as profound.
[1] http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Items_more_expensive_....
In the U.S, I only go to McDonald's if I'm alone and don't have an option( Chipotle is closed).
In Brazil, you'll see some families choosing it over local cuisine for 'modernity' or even 'sophistication'.
You're either talking about lower-lower middle class, or far outside the large metros, I presume?
I'm amazed no one mentioned Bob's Burgers, at any rate. Are you in the same Brazil I'm in?
Data is a couple years old, but still relevant: https://sacrariopessoal.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/faixascm...
Perhaps if you're American. Here in Canada, people are made aware of the US/CDN exchange rate daily, and large moves (like recently) are news.
According to the adjusted index, it's still the world's most overvalued currency.
For a weird graph look at Venezuela, $9.08 in 2013 and $0.67 now.
I've actually made my own version that provides a bit more explanation and it targeted towards marketers and the likes http://www.bigmacindexconverter.com/
And is there another measuring stick that would give us the simultaneous jab against globalization and corporate imperialism?
If insulin became expensive during the war, that was only because things became more expensive in general, right? That's what the index should capture: "you need 3x in dollar terms to buy the same stuff in Libya."
Guiness for example is going to cost a lot to ship, or local beer could be very low quality in order to keep the price affordable.
You need something perishable, and of low enough cost that importing is unlikley.
Bread would be a good option but has the issue that it's not as common in Japan as France, it also varies wildley where as a big mac is generally consistent.
So, using something like the potato would eliminate that sort of "bias" to the product, as no one party controls the potato, and thus couldn't artificially set the price higher at a whim. If the price of the potato rose, it would be because the whole market reacted to some changes to transportation or production costs, not because management has decided that they want to build their brand as being expensive and exclusive (which we know happens with a lot of brand products).
2) What if potatoes become hip?
3) If you want auditable PPP conversion rates: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/PA.NUS.PPP
What is a 'potato'?
You'll probably be fine with a small-time software business but you won't see anyone hurry to commit a bunch of cash to turn something into a $1B Venezuela unicorn...
I'm not saying this POV either right or wrong. Just Each of these other countries is 'Europe" or larger in their own right with distinct regional wealth differences. So why is this important for Europe and not other large diverse countries?