The Big Mac Index – 2008
The Economist has released this interesting graph showing how the price of Big Mac hamburgers at McDonald’s restaurants around the world compare to how much the burger costs in the United States:
Many of the currencies in the Fed’s major-currency index, including the euro, the British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar, are overvalued and trading higher than last year’s burger benchmark. Only the Japanese yen could be considered a snip. The dollar still buys a lot of burger in the rest of Asia too.
But are the burgers at McDonald’s in Japan actually cheaper? If one compares the U.S. dollar menu to the Japanese 100 yen menu, the biggest burger on the dollar menu is the double cheeseburger, while 100 yen menu customers are limited to a hamburger or a mcpork burger. However, McDonald’s USA is considering price changes that could make its dollar menu closer to the 100 yen menu.
