On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 18:53:38 +0200, Torsten Brinch
posted:

On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 07:20:24 GMT, "Moosh:}"
wrote:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 10:46:36 +0200, Torsten Brinch
posted:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 07:29:29 GMT, "Gordon Couger"
wrote:


"Torsten Brinch" wrote in message
m...
On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 01:43:18 GMT, "Gordon Couger"
wrote:
We do pay a price for having the cheapest food on the planet.

Myth: USA has the cheapest food on the planet

Fact: In 50 out of 63 countries worldwide, you can buy
a Big Mac hamburger cheaper than in USA.

We spend less of our disposable income on food than any
nation in the world.

That may be true or not, quite independently from the question
whether or not you have the cheapest food.

We don't live on Big Macs.

That's true. However, if you look at prices in USA of, say,
bread and cereals, or meat, they too are not the cheapest
on the planet.

But in what currency? US dollars is hardly informative.

I was thinking of World Bank data for international
price comparisons. They do it in PPP terms, with
100 indicating [item] in [country in question] is
priced equal to the price in USA, and less than 100,
that it is cheaper. See:
http://rrojasdatabank.net/wdi2000/tab5_6.pdf


See also: The size of household consumption
(in "international" dollars calculated from PPPs).
in [country] and how much of it is going to e.g.
food, transportation, education.
http://rrojasdatabank.net/wdi2000/tab4_11.pdf

But the best comparison is minutes of work done by average workers to
be able to afford the product of interest. Affordability is what we
want to compare, when you think of it.
$2 is "infinitely expensive" if you only have $1.