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 Can I get an order of Pommes Frites with my monetary stability indicator?
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| Author | Topic: Can I get an order of Pommes Frites with my monetary stability indicator? |
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ActionFigure 1.0 Geek 
Posts: 91 |
posted January 10, 2002 08:59
   
One of the problems plaguing the ambitious movement to the Euro by the dozen or so nations shedding their erstwhile currency, is the conversion factor. Add to this the specter of inflation, and a few unscrupulous shopkeepers fleecing the public by jacking up prices before they actually know how much stuff really should cost. And after all why not? How much should stuff really cost anyway? If only we had a unifying factor against which to measure the currency of each nation. A gold standard, if you will. Well, it seems they have a Golden Arches Standard. When watching the news, I noticed they compared prices of Big Macs at McDonalds across several European Nations. I thought, �Leave it to American News to put a US of A Spin on a European story.� What I didn�t realize was that it was not just the American News, but several European news Agencies were using the price of various Mickey D�s items to make sure that the Euro was being converted properly. I witnessed this phenomenon with increasing doubt. What a silly idea for the news folks both here and there. Well, apparently they got it from one of the high up, muckety mucks in charge of Financial Aspects or Europe�not his official title, but I saw it on the really late-ass news they put on CBS. They only thing I can remember accurately is Melissa Mcdermot gets hotter the sleepier you get. Anyway, said muckety muck compared prices of Big Macs post- and pre- Euro. �They are the same,� he said with an earnest mixture of pride and silliness. Anyone else find this a bit off? Ahh, the cultural majesty of McEurope�super sized for only .39 Euros. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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greycat Super Geek 
Posts: 182 |
posted January 10, 2002 09:12
The typical measurement of inflation in the USA is the Consumer Price Index, which is basically a weighted average of prices of commodity goods and services. And I can't think of any better way to do it, either -- the true worth of an abstraction like a "dollar" is what you can buy with it. Of course, a CPI that's based on exactly one item -- and a brand name at that, rather than a commodity -- is pretty useless from a statistical point of view. But if you're going to do something this shallow, you have to pick a brand name that actually exists in all of the countries you're comparing. I don't know how culturally diverse European consumer markets are these days... perhaps McDonald's is the only pan-European brand there is. IP: Logged |
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Tau Zero BlabberMouth, the Next Generation.     
Posts: 1685 |
posted January 10, 2002 10:49
quote:How ironic it would be if the best measure of European monetary union is the price of products at an American (US-ian) restaurant chain. (Notice I say "products", not "food". IP: Logged |
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ActionFigure 1.0 Geek
Posts: 91 |
posted January 10, 2002 10:52
good move, TZ. It would be playing fast and loose with diction to call that stuff "food". I think the FDA would intervene. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Zwilnik Alpha Geek Posts: 291 |
posted January 10, 2002 17:36
The Big Mac Index has been going for a few years. I think the idea is to show a rough idea of the price of consumer items in countries without going too far over people's heads. http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/Index.cfm IP: Logged |
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LifetimeTrekker Alpha Geek Posts: 326 |
posted January 10, 2002 19:30
Replying to the original question: "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any Pommes Frites, but would you like some French Fries, instead?" IP: Logged |
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greycat Super Geek
Posts: 182 |
posted January 11, 2002 06:50
quote: I thought about this one some more, and I think it's actually not ironic at all. Suppose there were a really famous restaurant chain in Europe called "LeDonald's", which started in France and then expanded into the other countries. One could easily see that the prices (and/or quality) of LeDonald's food in France might be different from the prices in the other countries. In order to remove any such bias, it makes perfect sense to use a brand whose country of origin is entirely outside Europe. IP: Logged |
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