Chart of the Day: Big Mac Index

Today’s Chart of the Day from Voronoi shows the “Big Mac Index," a socially popular measure of a concept called Purchasing Power Parity. The concept proposes that the costs of goods, in this case a hamburger, should be the same all over the world. If you could buy the good in one country and sell it for more in another, you would do so until both prices reached “parity.” Things that can impact price differences across the globe include higher taxes, remote locations, government controls, consumer tastes, etc. In this case, the “standard” product is a Big Mac, which is universally prepared all over the world. The index says prices range from a low of $2.39 in Taiwan, to the USA cost of $5.69, to the high of $8.17 in Sweden, 44% more that the USA.