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Borders and Big Macs

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Abstract

I measure the extent of international market segmentation using local, national, and international Big Mac prices. I show that the bulk of time-series price volatility observed across the United States arises between neighboring locations. Using these data, I provide new estimates of border frictions for 14 countries. I find that borders generally introduce only small price wedges, far smaller than those observed across neighboring locations. When expressing these wedges in terms of distance equivalents, I find that border widths are small in relation to price variations observed across the United States. This suggests that international markets are well integrated.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Landry, 2011. "Borders and Big Macs," Globalization Institute Working Papers 95, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:feddgw:95
    Note: Published as: Landry, Anthony (2013), "Borders and Big Mac," Economics Letters 120 (2): 318-322.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Engel, Charles & Rogers, John H, 1996. "How Wide Is the Border?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1112-1125, December.
    2. Engel, Charles & Rogers, John H., 2001. "Deviations from purchasing power parity: causes and welfare costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 29-57, October.
    3. Gita Gopinath & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Nicholas Li, 2011. "International Prices, Costs, and Markup Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2450-2486, October.
    4. Parsley, David C. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2001. "Explaining the border effect: the role of exchange rate variability, shipping costs, and geography," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 87-105, October.
    5. Michael R. Pakko & Patricia S. Pollard, 1996. "For here or to go? Purchasing power parity and the Big Mac," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 78(Jan), pages 3-22.
    6. 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.
    7. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Linda L. Tesar, 2009. "Border Effect or Country Effect? Seattle May Not Be So Far from Vancouver After All," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 219-241, January.
    8. Robert E. Cumby, 1996. "Forecasting Exchange Rates and Relative Prices with the Hamburger Standard: Is What You Want What You Get With McParity?," NBER Working Papers 5675, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Kehoe, Patrick, 2005. "Comment on: "Determinants of business cycle comovement: a robust analysis"," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 159-162, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Michael R. Pakko & Patricia S. Pollard, 2003. "Burgernomics: a big MacT guide to purchasing power parity," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 85(Nov), pages 9-28.
    12. Anthony Landry, 2008. "The Big Mac: a global-to-local look at pricing," Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, vol. 3(sep).
    13. Landry, Anthony, 2013. "Borders and Big Macs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 318-322.
    14. Baxter, Marianne & Kouparitsas, Michael A., 2005. "Determinants of business cycle comovement: a robust analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 113-157, January.
    15. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2008. "Understanding International Price Differences Using Barcode Data," NBER Working Papers 14017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The surprisingly low border effect of the BigMac
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-12-21 21:54:00
    2. Burgernomics
      by Dave Giles in Econometrics Beat: Dave Giles' Blog on 2013-05-07 02:32:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Landry, Anthony, 2013. "Borders and Big Macs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 318-322.

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    JEL classification:

    • F4 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance

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