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International price dispersions of the Big Mac and economic integration

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  • Yukio Fukumoto

Abstract

McDonald's Big Mac hamburger is available all over the world, and its recipe and quality are almost identical around the world and have changed little over time. However, Big Mac prices are widely disparate even across countries with more similar per capita incomes. This fact would be amazing because world tariff levels have been falling steadily and world trade volumes have been increasing dramatically in recent decades. We pay attention to the situation of international goods markets' integration and attempt to clarify why the deviations from absolute Big Mac parity are common across countries. To summarize our main results, global price dispersion of the Big Mac did not decrease although per capita income dispersion reduced. On the other hand, price dispersions of the Big Mac decreased within countries where trade ties are strong. These results suggest that Big Mac prices of countries in the world converge to several levels and that existence of trading bloc accounts for deviations from absolute Big Mac parity to some extent.

Suggested Citation

  • Yukio Fukumoto, 2011. "International price dispersions of the Big Mac and economic integration," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(17), pages 1633-1638.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:18:y:2011:i:17:p:1633-1638
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2011.556585
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan M. Taylor & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "The Purchasing Power Parity Debate," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 135-158, Fall.
    2. DavidC. Parsley & Shang-Jin Wei, 2007. "A Prism into the PPP Puzzles: The Micro-Foundations of Big Mac Real Exchange Rates," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1336-1356, October.
    3. Ong, Li Lian, 1997. "Burgernomics: the economics of the Big Mac standard," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 865-878, December.
    4. Alan M. Taylor & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "The Purchasing Power Parity Debate," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 135-158, Fall.
    5. Rogers, John H., 2007. "Monetary union, price level convergence, and inflation: How close is Europe to the USA?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 785-796, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yukio Fukumoto & Tomoko Kinugasa, 2019. "How Different are demographic impacts on trade openness by geographic region?:Findings from Europe,Asia,America,and Africa," Discussion Papers 1912, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.

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