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Purchasing power for what? Consumer goods? Most purchasing power calculations are completely bogus because they rarely compare goods of equal quality.

A neighborhood with just a Walmart doesn't have higher purchasing power than a neighborhood with just a Whole Foods.



Commodities. Raw materials with which all goods and services are made. Coffee, sugar, wheat, pound of beef, gasoline. Also products which are supposed to be identical like a Big Mac. Purchasing power is hard to measure but it’s a question studied deeply by economists.


Even the Big Mac index is flawed because it's not quite the same burger, since it's not made in the same regulatory environment, or by people compensated equally fairly.


All measures are flawed but can you do better?


No, my point is that there is no such thing as purchasing power. An iPhone doesn't cost less in China or India even though their "purchasing power" is much higher on paper.

Having "high purchasing power" just means that you have access to low quality options that people in "low purchasing power" countries don't because there isn't a market for it.




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