what's the purchasing power parity in DR?

bostianfamily

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does anyone know the current Purchasing Power Parity for the D.R.? All I can find online is GDP adjusted by PPP, but I can't find the actual PPP rate. Thanks
 

bob saunders

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The simplest way to calculate purchasing power parity between two countries is to compare the price of a "standard" good that is in fact identical across countries. Every year The Economist magazine publishes a light-hearted version of PPP: its "Hamburger Index" that compares the price of a McDonald's hamburger around the world. More sophisticated versions of PPP look at a large number of goods and services. One of the key problems is that people in different countries consumer very different sets of goods and services, making it difficult to compare the purchasing power between countries.

Meaning if a basket of goods in the USA cost $100, how much does the same basket of goods cost in the DR.
 

J D Sauser

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I am usually pretty good at this stuff but I am totally confused by this table... Where does the 13k for the US come from? Why are all the countries less than the US when Europe is clearly so much more expensive? HELP

A statistic is a BIG lie made of compounding little truths. :D


I think the hamburger index is something only Americans (US) can believe in. MCD as well as BK and other food franchises adapt their prices based on marketing schemes in some places of the world based on income and sense of value and volumes and in other places they just push thru a price... look at Pizza Hut and MCD prices here... it's more expensive than in the US, and income levels would suggest a much lower price... but then volume doesn't.

It is very, very difficult to compare the economics of regions and nations.

... J-D.
 
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danely

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I think J-D and Bob nailed it.....and, PPP can be fairly subjective for individual consumers. The basket of goods that I will consume in the subject country is the only basket that matters to me when determining my personal PPP exchange rate.

...oh, and I can't make see of the link to the table of country comparisons either.
 

Hillbilly

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there used to be a poster that watched the price of a can of Tuna. (At least I think it was tuna...)

Stuff here is expensive compared to other places....but that is not very accurate, is it?

HB
 

DavidZ

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I'd like to see a comparative list of common food basket items, like rice, milk, bread, eggs, chicken, produce, BEER!, etc.

I still don't understand how so many staple (non-imported) items here cost the same or more than in the US...
 

J D Sauser

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I'd like to see a comparative list of common food basket items, like rice, milk, bread, eggs, chicken, produce, BEER!, etc.

I still don't understand how so many staple (non-imported) items here cost the same or more than in the US...

Because of several reasons, which may include:

  • Some compared items sold in the US are actually being imported by the US, because they find them cheaper abroad and in the bulk quantities the US can buy and pay.
  • For US made or grown products, the US has better technology, bigger plants, better logistics, bigger volumes... short: more effective.
  • We (DR) have no market oversight. Greed, little competitiveness.
  • Many products which SEEM local are actually import (rice, habichuelas... just an example). And such products, while sold with "no" or "low" tax are actually taxed by customs at port entry.

Just a few reasons which come to mind.

... J-D.
 

rastebob

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No problem (though I have a nasty feeling you'e just being sarcastic)... figured I'll point it in the direction and if interested anyone can track down the 2008 figures themselves...unless you need me to do that for you as well.
 

rastebob

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Ppp

does anyone know the current Purchasing Power Parity for the D.R.? All I can find online is GDP adjusted by PPP, but I can't find the actual PPP rate. Thanks

See 1st post -- I looked around a bit and looks like you have to buy 2008 but 2007 # don't look too off from 2005 (based on some simple calculations (comapring US GNi/PPP to DR GNI/PPP as it shuld be proportional looks in the 8.3 range for 2007). Couldn't have changed much from 2005 (and that was my point in sending out the 2005 #s).