The burger bill

The problem is that people that read The Economist don't shop at McDonald's all too often; you need to find a measure more suited for this demographic if you want more results. Maybe a stick of gum, or a latte? I prefer mochas but I could get you the price of a latte in Colorado today - I'd need more incentive to drive to McDonald's.

I still miss the Mars Bar index...*sigh*

Yes, perhaps the BigMac index should be supplemented by a Frappacino index.

@Ricky: you make a typical introvert 'US only' statement. Please bear in mind that in many countries in the world, only people with a decent salary (often related to a good education) can afford to go to McDonald's.

The low response is caused by other reasons like: of 1.1 billion chinese people, only 50 mln are able to read English AND having access to Internet AND have read this particullar request from The Economist AND are eating at McDonald's AND are willing to give The Economist feedback about the price of a Big Mac AND.....

Regards,
An Economist reader while eating at McDonald's

@jnoten True, but to be fair, I only care about differences in price within the US because they are the only one's that have context on. Perhaps the older and wiser readers of the Daily Chart know differences between Guangxi and Hubei, but I don't. The only number I care about for China is the overall price that The Economist already has.

I doubt there's a good way to get figures on a large scale for China right now, but for the US I think you would need to advertise this survey in a different magazine if you wanted BigMac prices (in general). Or change the index, but now that I think about it, I think coffee has been done - with little success.

Perhaps The Economist can hire Morgan Spurlock to fly around the world and collect data?

We created the Big E Index as a light-hearted look at the price of the Economist around the world.
see http://www.bigeindex.com

Australia and Japan have the most expensive paper copies, while South Africa and Mexico are cheapest.

We also looked at how many Big Macs you can get for your Economist in our PPI mangling Brain to Belly ratio:
http://www.bigeindex.com/belly-to-brain-ratio/

In China you get 5 big macs per magazine, while in Norway, they're almost at parity!

I prefer Caviar. ;-)

@jnotenboom

"Please bear in mind that in many countries in the world, only people with a decent salary (often related to a good education) can afford to go to McDonald's."

Wow, your statement shocked me! Didn't know that a shitty burger could be a luxury/status symbol in other countries...

I thought the Economist was blocked by the Great Firewall of China, so I was frankly surprised that there were any response from Mainland China at all.

I was equally surprised by the total lack of response from Japan. I couldn't respond because nowadays one has to order at a McDonald's in Japan to see the full price list, and also there is an ongoing 40th Anniversary campaign in Japan that reduced the price of Big Mac throughout Japan (It was reduced from 280 yen to 200 yen in central and eastern Tokyo where I checked).

I have been following the BigMac index for some time now, and as I travel around the world, it clearly shows how true it holds and how overvalued or undervalued a currency (or 'burger) is.

Now, having settled abroad, I find myself in need of more than a 'burger, like for example a weekly high brow publication that I can peruse while flicking off the extra brownish salad leaves from the greasy patties. The Economist comes to mind. I received the following email, asking me to re-subscribe:
Newsstand Price Subscription Saving Special Offer You Pay
Yen 61,200 44% EXTRA 20% OFF Yen27,600

Hmm, I'm thinking, 64% off sounds grand, 27,600 JPY is not too bad for 3 years, that's what I paid a few years ago when I was in the UK. But… hang on… this is for a single year !

Comparing the cost of The Economist for a 2 year subscription at www.economistsubscriptions.com shows the following:
Country 2 yr sub Ccy FX USD % of US price
United States 223.38 USD 1 223.38 100%
Japan 62,720 JPY 84 746.67 334%
United Kingdom 182 GBP 1.56 283.92 127%
Germany 253 EUR 1.31 331.43 148%
South Africa 2,856 ZAR 6.86 416.33 186%
Hong Kong 3,220 HKD 7.75 415.48 186%
Singapore 670 SGD 1.31 511.45 229%
Thailand 430 USD 1 430.00 192%
Australia 675 AUD 1 675.00 302%

The findings are astounding. There is a fairly big discrepancy here - much bigger than suggested by your ordinary burger.
Now, one could argue, 'burgers are eaten everywhere, but who would read an English magazine in Japan - explaining the 250% markup compared to the US.
But then, Japan is closely followed by Australia, at 3 times the US price. And Australians do speak and read English, ish, in the broadest sense anyway.
So clearly the USD is undervalued, and clearly JPY and AUD are overvalued - which is excacerbated by the "The Economist Subscription factor", that I leave to The Economist readers to work out. Living in Japan, I don't think I can afford to re-join this elite group, and stick with reading the occasional article online.

@TheObjector
"Wow, your statement shocked me! Didn't know that a shitty burger could be a luxury/status symbol in other countries..."
The intensity of your shock would increase if you visit McDonalds outlets in India. Going to a McDonalds is like an evening out for a number of Indian families with as much attention paid to ordering as in a fine dine restaurant. There is a context to this though - the average price of a McChicken / McVeggie (much more popular compared to Big Mac in India) is approximately INR 45, the total meal cost can go up to INR 100 per head with fries and coke thrown in - the cost for a family of 4 (~INR 400 / US$ 9) would be equivalent or more than the price paid for a meal in a decent & clean middle range restaurant, even in the cities of India. This also ensures that only people at or above middle class can afford a burger in India, it is not a poor mans food.

By the way, the response from India may be thin because the Big Mac in India contains chicken and therefore not as liked compared to the beef-versions available elsewhere (please correct me if I am wrong). The reason for having chicken in the Big Mac is that Hindus do not eat beef and Muslims do not eat ham / pork, so large portions of the population get cut out if any of these ingredients are used.

@Alladdin Sane,

I was confronted with this fact when I had to renew my subscription in Europe just a few months before moving to Asia. I paid European prices for a year's worth whilst living most of that year in a country where a subsciption is almost half the price. Of course I was not offered a rebate.

When my subsciption ran out again recently, I took the opportunity to renew for 3 years at a low(ish) cost, but I do wonder whether I will get a "top up" request if I end up moving to Japan or Australia in the near future.

One of pink parts of that map should be "SHANXI", not "SHAANXI".