Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina • Hacker News Board

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#11

Post by planetguy » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:08 PM UTC

The Big Mac index as of January:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c...

Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something like $6.25, a little above Sweden.

The fact that the official exchange rate is 4.2 pesos to the dollar but Argentinians are willing to give you at least five pesos to the dollar in informal exchanges seems like a pretty bad sign.

The other interesting thing about that Big Mac index is that Argentina is one of the world's largest beef producers. So are Uruguay, Brazil and Australia, all clustered up there in overpriced burger land.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#12

Post by dguaraglia » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:13 PM UTC

wslh wrote: post #8

dguaraglia wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I happen to be living temporarily in Argentina (after growing up here, moving abroad for almost a decade) and, while surely the government numbers are made up, I don't recall anyone sent to jail for reporting a different number. If you have links to the piece of news, I'll be more than glad to see them. If you have not, then please stop making shit up.

A threat is different? http://www.elsurhoy.com.ar/index.php/component/plugins/syste... I don't think it is very different in this case

An empty threat, yeah. As scary as it is (and, admittedly, this is a government that is known to push buttons and pull threads whenever it wants something done, whether good or bad) it'd still be unconstitutional. That's exactly why they didn't stop publishing those figures.

Also, you have to understand something about Argentine politics right now: it's a very polarized country, with two massive interest groups trying to take control of it. I'm not saying the government figures are real, most probably they aren't, but I'm very doubtful of these other claims, specially when these 'think tanks' don't really specify what they are measuring.

This is a horrible game these two interests groups are playing, with everyone standing to lose except a few fuckers on top.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#13

Post by dguaraglia » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:15 PM UTC

pmtarantino wrote: post #10

jstalin wrote: post #4

Argentina is the very definition of economic schizophrenia. People are put in jail for reporting the actual inflation rate (instead of the "official" inflation rate). The Economist magazine recently published a story that they are no longer going to lie to their readers and report the official rate and instead will report unofficial, private estimates. Argentina's real inflation rate has been running at about 25% per…

Argentina keeps the official rate down because pays interest to USA according to it. If the official rate is low, Argentina pay less, which is great.

Exactly! This is why a lot of people, like say my father, who hate the government policies otherwise kind of agrees with them on this: "hey, we got fucked by the IMF 20 times already, let them get fucked for once!"

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#14

Post by dguaraglia » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:20 PM UTC

planetguy wrote: post #11

The Big Mac index as of January: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c... Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something li…

McDonalds (and other burger chains for that matter) has always been extremely expensive in Argentina, even during the 'golden age' of Carlos Menem (golden age from the American/globalized/free-market perspective). For the same money you could eat a McDonalds burger you can eat a 3 course lunch menu in Puerto Madero (one of Buenos Aires nicest parts).

But... kids love brands. That's why you see suckers using MacBook Pros to browse Facebook in the big malls, even when they cost about 3x what they cost in the US. Go figure. Maybe advertising works?

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#15

Post by planetguy » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:28 PM UTC

planetguy wrote: post #11

The Big Mac index as of January: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c... Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something li…

Actually, I apologize for replying to myself, but I couldn't resist going off and coming up with some numbers. There's a pretty darn strong and unexpected correlation between the price of a Big Mac and the number of cows per head population.

I could only get good cows-per-person numbers for the big beef producers, but here goes:

Country Cows per person Big Mac Price

Australia 1.28 $4.94

Argentina 1.26 $4.64

Brazil 1.07 $5.68

Colombia 0.59 $4.54

USA 0.31 $4.20

Mexico 0.29 $2.70

Pakistan 0.18 $2.89

Russia 0.15 $2.55

India 0.15 $1.62

China 0.06 $2.44

So there ya go, the more plentiful cows are the more it costs to get one cut up and put on a bun. (Or, perhaps, the more you can sell your beef for, the more likely you are to be a cattle rancher.)

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#16

Post by Codhisattva » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:28 PM UTC

lipponlabang wrote: post #3

Who in their right mind eats a Big Mac anyway? They're disgusting.

I can't figure out how this story made it to HN.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#17

Post by sliverstorm » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:30 PM UTC

lipponlabang wrote: post #3

Who in their right mind eats a Big Mac anyway? They're disgusting.

What, you've never been a thousand miles from home at 11PM and starving?

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#18

Post by vacri » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:37 PM UTC

planetguy wrote: post #15

planetguy wrote: post #11

The Big Mac index as of January: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c... Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something li…

Actually, I apologize for replying to myself, but I couldn't resist going off and coming up with some numbers. There's a pretty darn strong and unexpected correlation between the price of a Big Mac and the number of cows per head population. I could only get good cows-per-person numbers for the big beef producers, but here goes: Country Cows per person Big Mac Price Australia 1.28 $4.94 Argentina 1.26 $4.64 Brazil 1.…

Something that will also affect these numbers from my country: minimum wage. Minimum wage in the US is $7.50(ish). Minimum wage in Australia is $15, which wasn't so ridiculous before our dollar soared in the past couple of years. For quite a while, the $AU was $.50-60US, but is currently equal.

This means the burger costs more to make here due to labour costs, but also that people have higher numbers of dollars to spend on their burger.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#19

Post by pelle » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:39 PM UTC

dguaraglia wrote: post #13

pmtarantino wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Argentina keeps the official rate down because pays interest to USA according to it. If the official rate is low, Argentina pay less, which is great.

Exactly! This is why a lot of people, like say my father, who hate the government policies otherwise kind of agrees with them on this: "hey, we got fucked by the IMF 20 times already, let them get fucked for once!"

I'm sorry but Argentina got f'ed by the IMF because the country keeps voting in incompetent yet flamboyant idiots who buy votes with money they don't have.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#20

Post by pelle » Wed, Jun 13, 2012, 11:41 PM UTC

jstalin wrote: post #4

Argentina is the very definition of economic schizophrenia. People are put in jail for reporting the actual inflation rate (instead of the "official" inflation rate). The Economist magazine recently published a story that they are no longer going to lie to their readers and report the official rate and instead will report unofficial, private estimates. Argentina's real inflation rate has been running at about 25% per…

This is a site run by a group of economists who crowd source the real inflation numbers based on supermarket prices in Buenos Aires.

http://www.inflacionverdadera.com/

Having just lived there for a couple of months I can attest to the insanity of whats going on there right now. The country is going to explode before the end of the year.