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The Big Mac Index

Aug 9, 2009
  • CQ in Organisations
  • Current Events

I’m a HUGE fan of eating local wherever I go, including grasshoppers in Mexico, snake in China, and pasties in Northern Michigan. But economists often use the cost of a McDonalds Big Mac to compare the cost of living from one place to the next.

The Economist recently reported that the least expensive Big Mac is USD $1.72 in Hong Kong (where I’d much rather have dim sum) and the most expensive is USD $$6.15 in Norway (where I’d much rather have the local goat cheese). Read the report from the Economist here. Eating local plays huge dividends (see thoughts about this here) but there can be value in seeing the localized menu options at McDonalds too (like the Maharaja Mac veggie “Big Mac” in India and the gallo pinto/rice and beans in Costa Rica).

Where are some of the places you’ve eaten at McDonalds outside your home country?

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