Hi

I was reading this Wikipedia article. According to the article the economy of the United States is used as a reference, and is set at 100. Bermuda has the highest index value at 154; this means that goods sold there are more expensive than in the US. In other words, if something costs $1 in the US, then in the Bermuda it would cost $1.54. It's just like thinking that if the every country was using the same currency, then how much you would pay to buy an identical item at different places in the world. According to the map below, India is one the least expensive place.

 

The map is off, as the USA is not homogeneous. We refer to this locally as Cost of Living. New York tends to be much more expensive then the middle of the USA, and cities in general are more expensive than rural.

 

It certainly is painted with a very broad brush. Most of Europe and UK (not Eire) is also painted the same shade as USA.

There appears to be considerably disparity between the UK and USA (many items seem much cheaper over there). The idea that all these countries are really within +/-10% on costs seems unlikely.

 

Okay. The person living in India can buy things at cheap rates than in the US. But perhaps the person in India is also being paid less for the same type of job as the one in the US. Is there some technical term for this 'salary parity/job parity' thing? Please let me know. Thanks.