Re:Heart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.
by vbuterin on Monday July 29, 2013 @08:01AM
(#6120474)
Assuming no new disruptions, then yes, economic conditions in the two countries would eventually equalize and prices would differ by at most the shipping cost if one of the two countries happens to have much better natural conditions for producing beer than the other. It's because disruptions are now becoming (have become?) the norm that equilibrium never has time to come close to manifesting itself.
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Re:Heart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.
by mistermann on Monday July 29, 2013 @09:03AM
(#6120762)
Alcohol is a poor example because of special taxation.
The Big Mac index is better for many reasons, one being Mcdonalds is large enough to mostly optimize everything wherever they operate:
Re:Heart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.
by mistercow on Monday July 29, 2013 @08:11PM
(#6124684)
I think it's a little more complicated than that. Culture plays a major factor, especially when it leads to niche markets. If a product has a niche demand in country A, and high demand in country B, then the cost in country A can easily remain much higher than the cost in country B. In addition to shipping cost being higher in that case (which is why that difference is hard to abstract away), you have to consider the opportunity cost of keeping it in inventory, the risk of spoilage if the product is perishable, the risk of depreciation if it's technology, etc.