How much are you worth?

[Pleater]

I think I read of a method of computation of equivalence for Western salaries using Mars Bars - though of course the modern Mars Bar is a far distant thing from those of my youth, and it has even altered from the bar being used for the calculation.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[CDNSushi]

I think I read of a method of computation of equivalence for Western salaries using Mars Bars - though of course the modern Mars Bar is a far distant thing from those of my youth, and it has even altered from the bar being used for the calculation.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

Yes, that's very possible. After The Economist started publishing The Big Mac Index to show purchasing power parity (as Danwell pointed out) it became popular to create similar indexes. Another one is the Starbucks Index...

These are all really cool... But the only thing about them is, is that to my knowledge, no one has ever gotten paid in Big Macs in lieu of a salary, making it a little abstract to imagine.

[ThistleDown]

That was so thorough, CDN and far from silly. Makes me very proud to share a nationality (or two?) with you. And you were so polite in not pointing out the obvious: that wealth is really in the eye of the owner of the rice field, the folk who tend and harvest it, those who manufacture the bags and the scales and the twine, the ones who cart it about from here to there around the world (and their donkeys and oxen and lorry- and ship-builders and drivers/sailors), receivers and warehousers and distributors and haulers and -- finally -- the wee shop-keeper with the bag of rice to sell, if he has a buyer because he can keep the price somewhat in line with the income of his potential customer. Wherever in the world he is, of course.

Superbly done! Is there one among us who could do the same thing with any other grown or manufactured product: a dram, or a pint, or a yard/metre of tartan fabric?

[Pleater]

The only other commodities I can think of which were used for paying salaries are the original one - the Roman army's salt, and the lady gold workers who were not actually paid directly at all, they just gathered up the tiny grains of gold from their bathtubs after a day's work, and kept their hair long to maximise gathering potential.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: