Deutsche Bank made something funny to compete with The Economist's 'Big Mac Index'

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The Economist's "Big Mac Index" is a well-known measure of something called purchasing power parity. Basically, it's a measure of how far a dollar will go in any given country.

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Ideally, it tells you which currencies are undervalued and overvalued - if a McDonald's Big Mac seems to cost very little in dollars somewhere, it might mean that place's currency is undervalued based on what it can purchase (relative to the dollar).

It's been a fun rough guide to purchasing power for 30 years, but Deutsche Bank just published their meta-level version. They've produced their own index comparing purchasing power, but based on how much a subscription to The Economist costs in that country.

Here's how it looks:

Deutsche economist

Deutsche Bank

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Brazil is cheapest, with an Economist subscription costing less than $100, less than a quarter of what the US subscription costs. Whereas in Switzerland, you'll pay nearly $600, 43% more than in the United States (and nearly 500% more than in Brazil).

Deutsche Bank produced it as part of its annual survey of world prices.