h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I heard somewhere that they base the economic value of a country's money on the price of a Big Mac. Because this is available in almost every country on Earth etc.

Mabey it's just a rumor...

I heard somewhere that Ray Kroc, when asked what business he was in, did not reply "the Hamburger business" but he was really in the "Real Estate business" - selling franchises to the people who run the stores and are the ones in the "burger business".

I have heard or seen both the previous comments in a number of different places. Ray Kroc often says he is in the real estate business. As for the economy based on the price of a Big Mac, I don't this is used in serious studies on world economies, but more helps to denote cost of living in various part of the world.

In the London & South region of the UK a Big Mac costs:

on it's own: £1:99
Medium Meal: £3:19
Large Meal: £3:49
Supersize: £3:69

<BB<

The so-called Big Mac Index was in my economics text in HS. Basically if a country has an exchange rate of x with a certain country, you take the price of the product converted to the same currency and that shows the difference in the cost of living in the countries.
E.g.:
Country A has a Big Mac that costs 8 of their currency
Country B has one that costs 5 of their currency.
2 of Country A's currency is 1 of country B's.

A's Big Mac would be 4 in B's currency vs country B's 5.
therefore every B dollar you spend buys you 4/5 of what the A dollar does.