The world according to Big Mac.Economists at Swiss bank UBS UBS Union Bank of Switzerland UBS United Bible Societies UBS United Blood Services UBS United Buying Service UBS Used Bookstore UBS University Business Services UBS Universal Building Society (UK) UBS Ulaanbaatar Broadcasting System have done an intriguing in·trigue n. 1. a. A secret or underhand scheme; a plot. b. The practice of or involvement in such schemes. 2. A clandestine love affair. v. analysis of prices and purchasing power Purchasing Power 1. The value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy. Purchasing power is important because, all else being equal, inflation decreases the amount of goods or services you'd be able to purchase. 2. . Call it the Big Mac Index (right). The economists analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. the price of a Big Mac in relation to average hourly pay across 13 occupations. You'd you'd 1. Contraction of you had. 2. Contraction of you would. you'd you had or you would you'd have ~would think that since a Big Mac is pretty much identical wherever it is bought, the effort needed to earn one would be pretty much the same. But not so. Consumers in the developed world seem to have much more purchasing power for their labors. For example, Big Mac lovers in Nairobi have to work three hours to buy their favorite hamburger, while their counterparts in Chicago, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. or Miami can afford one with just 10 minutes of work. Time for a Burger How long must you work to buy a Big Mac? That depends on where you work. City Minutes Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, 10 Tokyo New York 12 Hong Kong 13 Zurich, Toronto, Montreal 14 Basel, Luxembourg, Dublin 15 Frankfurt, Vienna Geneva, Copenhagen 16 Amsterdam, Berlin, London Lugano 17 Oslo, Brussels, Taipei 18 Auckland, Helsinki, Stockholm, 19 Sydney, Paris Madrid, Milan, Athens, Singapore 21 Vilnius 62 Jakarta 67 Mexico City 75 Caracas 76 Bucharest, Lima 79 Kiev 84 Bogota 93 Mumbai 112 Karachi 132 Nairobi 185 Source: UBS, Prices and Earnings 2003 |
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