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A comment on Ask HN: Xray cost – USA $200 (13000 INR), India 1000 INR – what causes 10x diff?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Xray cost – USA $200 (13000 INR), India 1000 INR ... by zaptheimpaler on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @10:51PM (#15354188)
Right.. now going back to the India/US comparison, its pretty fair to say 99% of people in India will not immigrate to the US. So the hypothetical value of saving lots of money in the US to spend in India doesn't really apply. The SF/NYC analogy does not hold exactly to US/India.
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Re:Ask HN: Xray cost – USA $200 (13000 INR), India 1000 INR ... by jogjayr on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @11:46PM (#15354392)
Who said anything about saving in the US to spend in India? Saving in the Bay Area to spend in rural Montana is an equally valid comparison, cost-of-living wise.

The point I was making is that some things cost the same no matter where you live. The Indian dentist who wants to take a foreign vacation, buy an iPhone, or a car needs to spend more, relative to her income, than the American dentist. Purchasing power only holds for things that are labor-bound (mainly services, and goods that are labor-intensive to manufacture) rather than resource-bound.

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Re:Ask HN: Xray cost – USA $200 (13000 INR), India 1000 INR ... by zaptheimpaler on Thursday September 28, 2017 @09:16PM (#15362065)
Purchasing power is based on a basket of goods for the average consumer. It takes into account expenses like phones and cars - as you say, iPhones are still expensive but the basket would take that into account and purchasing power would be lowered accordingly.
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