Talk:Big Mac Index/Archives/2012

Live Index

Would it not be possible to have a live index, instead of relying on the Economist data which is already outdated? Would be really useful to have a table with countries and prices, sorry I don't have the knowhow to get it done. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.44.52 (talk) 08:21, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

arbitrage

Interesting article, you should add the term 'arbitrage' somewhere in the article. It is the exact word for the buying and selling mechanism that equalizes purchasing power between countries:

www.m-w.com

Main Entry: ar·bi·trage Pronunciation: 'är-b&-"träzh Function: noun Etymology: French, from Middle French, arbitration, from Old French, from arbitrer to render judgment, from Latin arbitrari, from arbitr-, arbiter 1 : the nearly simultaneous purchase and sale of securities or foreign exchange in different markets in order to profit from price discrepancies

--ShaunMacPherson 10:50, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Hey why are you referring to MerriamWebster? You should refer to our own article on arbitrage... if that article is not good enough, then we need to improve it! :-) Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 10:56, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

You're quick! I added this part while you were adding your post to clarify: Adding arbitrage is a good idea because a large reason for the burger index is to know where opporunities exist for arbitrage to take place. (You can make large $ being an arbitrageur :) ) --ShaunMacPherson 10:59, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

What does arbitrage have to do with this article? Obviously none of you have ever worked on Wall Street. Stevenmitchell 10:25, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

graph

Would we be allowed to have a version of the graph here? If we used an old version of the graph, would that be better? Probably we should ask them for permission (after all, they "like us") Houshuang 20:52, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wrong

The Big Mac index is total BS. Demands for a Big Mac vary among countries and the items cannot be transported easily, so there is little sense to use this as a single-item basket. CoolGuy 05:45, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

You, sir, miss the point. I thought the article adequately explained that the BMI is a proxy index which has been observed to be an interesting indicator of local conditions and the differences between countries - precisely because a burger is not a very mobile commodity. Perhaps if this is not apparent from the article there should be some refinement/clarification, but it seems good enough as it stands. Raygungothic 11:38, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

This is addressed in the article by "...the demand for Big Macs is not as large in countries like..." Shawnc 21:32, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Mistake in calculation

The article reads "then the pound is over-valued (1.81 > 0.8)", what is a calculation mistake.

• 1.81$ -> 1.0 £ => Currency relation = 1.81
• 2.50$ -> 2.0 £ => Big Mac relation = 1.25

so "the pound is over-valued (1.81 > 1.25) by 45% in comparison with the cost of the Big Mac.".

I'm fixing it now. Mariano(t/c) 09:47, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

The prices stated in Croatia are way out. I am always complaining about the cost of living here compared to EU countries and in relation to incomes (avg is about $1,000 per month). The true price is 18 kuna, which is roughly $3.35 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Steamer846 (talk • contribs) 12:44, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Prank?

"The Dutch celebrity Jeager (from Blijham) eats alot of Big Macs"

What's this? I'm Dutch and I've never heard of either Jeager or Blijham. Looks like a prank or a test. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zephyr7 (talk • contribs) 21:33, 13 February 2007 (UTC).

removed lines

Second line first: "interesting tidbits" do not belong in an encyclopedia. It conveys that the idea is interesting without being important, ie, trivia. If someone feels it is relevant to the subject of the Big Mac index, then you should find a better way to integrate it into the article.

The part about low-income Americans and Malaysians needs to be sourced if it is to remain. It even says "low income Malaysians probably never eat Big Macs." That screams to me "I think it's probably true, but I'm too lazy to look it up." Saying low-income Americans eat at McDonald's "a few times a week" is equally unattributed, probably not true, and potentially insulting. The paragraph flows just fine without that line and conveys the same point. In fact, the line was added by an IP editor after the surrounding text had stabilized. – Þ  01:38, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Image request

The article seems odd without a chart or graph demonstrating the concept similar to that used by The Economist. If someone with a scanner were to scan one sample graph from that publication, would it be considered within the bounds of fair use to post it here? If not, it'd be just as good to have a small chart incorporating some of the data published in the Economist for three or four concurrent months or years. MrZaius^talk 19:38, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

You could insert a photo of an American BigMac and a Japanese BigMac. "What is the relative price of the Japanese BigMac - compared to an American BigMac".

I think it could be a fun way of illustrating this article :) --|EPO| ^da: 13:36, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Coca Cola index

Is it Health or Wealth? According to this page http://matrix.millersamuel.com/?p=881 it is Wealth that is correlated with the consumption of Coca Cola, but I cannot access the Economist article (I am not subscribed) So can anyone go there and check their findings? Of course it would be more amusing if there was a correlation between consumption of coca cola and health in each country... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.119.164.117 (talk) 12:58, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Pam Woodall

The Big mac index was invented by Pam Woodall, (widely known but confirmed at http://www.economist.com/mediadirectory/listing.cfm?journalistID=24 ). There have been yearly re-calculations of the big mac index in The Economist, with Puns such as "burgernomics" regularly appearing. Pam has confirmed to me that "Burgernomics" was used first used by her in one of the very early editions of the index. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Djp (talk • contribs) 06:43, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

UK big macs..

are absolutely tiny and have no taste. Maybe this is subjective but they are clearly different from big macs in the US. Big macs in Hong Kong are made with beef from China which is why they can be so cheap... so clearly this doesn't really compare prices of the same good.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.146.15.207 (talk) 13:35, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Opinion

In the part about the iPod index, there is this bit... "However, this theory can be criticised for ignoring shipping costs, which will vary depending on how far the product is delivered from its "single place" of manufacture." that seems like opinion and needs a citation. My opinion... if you put a thousand iPods in a shipping container, then the shipping cost will be rather small compared to whatever retail price is being charged. 68.110.237.188 (talk) 04:32, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Is this serious?

Loled at this article, is it serious, looks pretty legitimate to me John Gradwell (talk) 10:14, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Serious people deal with serious topics using funny names. Yeah, it provokes a smile at least. --Biblbroks (talk) 22:43, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

2011 index released

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/big-mac-index –CWenger (^ • @) 17:50, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

The "Slowest Earned" section should probably be changed. I could not find any source for 158 minutes -- Nairobi, anywhere. It seems unlikely to me that this would even be printed in The Economist, as there is not now, nor has there ever been at any time in history, a McDonalds in Nairobi or even in Kenya. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.192.75.88 (talk) 18:16, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Big Mac in Argentina

In order to hide the figures of inflation, Argentine goverment made a deal with McDonalds. Big Mac combos cost 50% less than other MacDonalds combo. McDonalds can raise the price of any hamburguer or product except Big Mac. Big Mac is not advertised in any McDonalds but if you ask for it they have to sell it for the arranged price. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.246.8.69 (talk) 16:02, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Links expired

the link is expired on the Croatia price reference (14) goes to http://www.berlitz.com/Careers/33/

needs to go to: http://www.mcdonalds.hr/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cjenik-A4_10.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Steamer846 (talk • contribs) 12:52, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Economist list is flawed in the case of Sweden at least

The price specified in the list for Sweden is for an entire meal of Big mac with a soda and fries included. This is not the case for other countries (most of them anyway) where it's just the burger that's included. The price for the burger alone in sweden is more in the lines of 30 kr. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Redeem (talk • contribs) 20:07, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

iPhone app

I've taken the liberty of removing the section about the iPhone app from the article, as it seems to be insignificant, unrelated to The Economist and added by the developer of the app (Special:Contributions/80.217.31.88, App store link, Developer site, IP-address lookup). --Kimsey0 (talk) 22:58, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I've just noticed that the user in question seems to have re-added the section about the app several times after it has been removed previously (see the contributions link above). I've assumed good faith - that the user didn't know about the Wikipedia rules on advertising - and have added a template to the talk page of the user. However, please be aware of this, should the link for the app reappear. --Kimsey0 (talk) 23:23, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Creation of the index

I've taken the liberty of moving this paragraph from the article until it is ready for publication. --Kimsey0 (talk) 21:48, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

The Big Mac cost of living index was conceived in the early 1980s [exact date to be provided] by Arthur Kroos III, founder, co-editor and publisher of the International Lawyer's Newsletter, (ILN) a bi-monthly newsletter which later became a publication of Kluwer Law & Tax, Deventer, Netherlands. Kroos, an American business lawyer working as European Legal Counsel for Tektronix, Inc. in Amsterdam, started the ILN in 1979 as a personal side business, reflecting and reporting useful and entertaining experiences from his worldwide business travels and negotiations. At a time when there were few easy reference points for currencies such as the Russian ruble, and pre-Euro, Kroos - who enjoyed cheeseburgers at home and abroad, and who had a wry sense of humor at the time - published his index based on the prices he paid for a Big Mac, a Coke and fries. After several ILN issues came out with the index, a writer for The Economist contacted ILN's editors, requesting permission to reprint the index. Permission was granted. [Thus it is not accurate to state that the index was introduced by The Economist, at least not in the sense of first publication.) [Source: C. Emory, ILN Co-Editor/writer, 1979-2001.] CAECAROL (talk) 06:11, 25 January 2012 (UTC)