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The big mac index was invented by the Economist Magazine almost 20 years
ago, as I recall. It was intended to address "purchasing power parity"
across countries. The thinking was that this is an identical commodity,
by definition, across borders. By seeing what portion of a weeks salary
(for example) the Big Mac is, that would show the relative price of this
commodity in this marketplace, compared to other marketplaces.
Hello:
"BIG MAC INDEX
Burgernomics is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity, the
notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Thus
in the long run, the exchange rate between two countries should move
towards the rate that equalises the prices of an identical basket of
goods and services in each country. Our "basket" is a McDonald's Big
Mac, which is produced in about 120 countries. The Big Mac PPP is the
exchange rate that would mean hamburgers cost the same in America as
abroad. Comparing actual exchange rates with PPPs indicates whether a
currency is under- or overvalued. "
http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/Index.cfm
Therefore, its applicability to museum pricing is not very clear to me,
as museums are not identical commodities and I don't think you are
looking to compare purchasing power across different economies. I guess
that you are trying to find strategies for pricing based upon other
types of expenditures locally. So, for example, what does a visit to
Heureka cost compared to a visit to a movie, and is that consistent with
the same relationship in other institutions/countries. Is that more or
less what you are trying to identify?
If you want one data point--When we did our business plan for the
expansion we are about to complete, one way we explained our approach to
admissions pricing is: "we should cost as much as a movie." That is
still pretty much our strategy, with some tinkering.
Hope that helps. Let us know if you find some more data, it would be
useful for us to know.
Eric Siegel
Director of Planning
& Program Development
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11368
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Informal Science Education Network
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Per-Edvin Persson
> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 4:22 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Big Mac Index?
>
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of
> Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network
> of science museums and related institutions.
> **************************************************************
> ***************
>
> Many colleagues say they compare their ticket prices to those
> of cinemas, theme parks and Big Mac. Do you happen to have
> any compilation of such statistics, like, e.g. any data on
> Big Mac Indexes (ticket price/local price of Big Mac)?? Do
> you know anyone who has made this kind of comparison? Do you
> know any existing compilation?
>
>
> Dr. Per-Edvin Persson
> Director
> Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre
> POB 166
> FIN 013101 Vantaa, Finland
> Tel. + 358 98579201 Fax + 358 98579301 Mob + 358 40 9015200
>
www.heureka.fi
Politics is for the moment, while an equation is for eternity.
Albert Einstein
Heurekan päätukija/Heurekas huvudsponsor/Main Sponsor of Heureka
2002-2005: KESKO
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