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David McWilliams knows a lot more about the economy than I do, and maybe I'm missing something, but he doesn't mention that there's quite a disproportionate tax
by roryisok 9y ago
David McWilliams knows a lot more about the economy than I do, and maybe I'm missing something, but he doesn't mention that there's quite a disproportionate tax on alcohol in Ireland which probably makes the pint index a little less accurate as an indicator of currency value than something less taxed, like, ironically, a big mac
- dmurray 9y agoSame in Norway and Sweden, which were mysteriously left off the chart in favour of smaller, cheaper countries like Latvia and Cyprus. Additionally, the price of a pint of beer in a pub depends not just on the cost to manufacture and import the beer, but on the price of the pub itself, so it will be higher in places with higher land values. The article makes a pretty good point about supermarket prices in Northern Ireland being cheaper than in the twenty-six counties, but chooses a bad headline example to illustrate that point.
- ptaipale 9y agoIndeed: places with higher beer tax and overall higher price levels such as Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland were "accidentally" not included on the chart. So it looks like the author did some cherry-picking of data points.
- roryisok 9y agoWell, he was comparing EU countries so Norway, Iceland and Finland would not be included in that. Sweden should be though
- noinsight 9y agoWhat? Finland is in the EU. It even uses the Euro, unlike Sweden.
- praseodym 9y agoFinland is an EU member state though.
- roryisok 9y agoOops. My bad
- dogma1138 9y agoIceland and Norway are in the EEA for all intents and purposes they are in the EU for this comparison since they are part of the unified market. Also since Switzerland not to mention a plethora of non EEA/EU countries are in the graph your entire premise falls apart.
- dmurray 9y agoHe was comparing countries from all over the world including Singapore, Ukraine and the USA.
- tedmiston 9y agoIt would be interesting to see the data as a heat map overlaid on a world map. And to see more countries included like this. I also didn't see mentioned how the author arrived at one number to represent the price in each country. Guinness in the US can be 2-3x more expensive in some cities or neighborhoods than others.
- NamTaf 9y agoYeh he's completely glossed over this. Australia is also off the list, due to its very high alcohol tax. Paradoxially, Singapore is on the list despite having just as high, if not higher, alcohol tax.
- rsynnott 9y agoYes, this seems like a dubious idea. Tax on alcohol is all over the place, internationally. Average pricing of a basket of shopping in, say, Tesco might work better. And that is still cheaper in the UK, due to a combination of cheaper labour and better competition (and weak sterling, though that’s likely to be short-lived inflation in the UK ramps up).
- fyfy18 9y agoA Big Mac is unfortunately quite a bad way to compare prices between countries, as prices of Western brands are often overpriced compared to their local equivalent in less developed countries. Last year I was in India (Hyderabad), and a Starbucks coffee was more expensive than in the U.K., as there it’s seen as a luxury item for the upper class and Westerners. I now live in Lithuania and when I first came around five years ago, two people could eat out in a restaurant for not much more than the price of a Big Mac (around 18Lt/€5).