I am getting hungry. I’ve fixed the toddler’s dinner, which she’s not really eating, and now I need to plan dinner for myself and my husband. Sonic sounds good. Sonic has great onion rings and a Campfire Blast that looks delicious: Graham cracker flavored ice cream with chocolate covered marshmallows. I’m drooling, but we don’t have a lot of extra for takeout right now.
What do my food cravings have to do with money? Well, other than my comment about not being able to go out right now? I read an interesting article about the Big Mac Index. The Big Mac Index is a rather simple and astonishingly accurate way of looking at different countries’ currencies. The Economist is the magazine that started this index and has studied currencies using it for the past 24 years. A Big Mac should cost roughly the same everywhere. The lower the Big Mac cost, the less a currency is worth.
The Big Mac Index is genius. Why didn’t I think of that? There are few places in the world where you cannot buy a Big Mac. The Big Mac is the same worldwide. Comparing its cost in different places makes a whole lot of sense.
I was in London for week in 1987 with my University Choir. We were there over the Christmas break to record a Christmas album. I was not very adventurous with food when I was 18. My friends and I ate a lot of McDonald’s because it was easy to get to from the hotel and a Big Mac is a Big Mac. When it was time to exchange dollars for pounds my $300 was pretty much cut exactly in half. The numbers on the menu board at McDonald’s were excellent. Adjusted to US Dollars, the prices were high.
That’s the Big Mac Index. Now you’re hungry too, aren’t you?