Big Mac index

　　Bun fight

　　Why China needs more expensive burgers

　　Oct 15th 2010

　　A WEAK currency, despite its appeal to exporters and politicians, is no free lunch. But it can provide a cheap one. In China a McDonald's Big Mac costs just 14.5 yuan on average in Beijing and Shenzhen, the equivalent of $2.18 at market exchange rates. In America the same burger averages $3.71. That makes China's yuan one of the most undervalued currencies in our Big Mac index, which is based on the idea of purchasing-power parity. This says that a currency's price should reflect the amount of goods and services it can buy. Since 14.5 yuan can buy as much burger as $3.71, a yuan should be worth $0.26 on the foreign-exchange market. At just $0.15, it is undervalued by about 40%. The tensions caused by currency misalignments prompted Brazil's finance minister to complain last month that his country was a potential casualty of a “currency war”. The Swiss, who avoid most wars, are in the thick of this one. Their franc is the most expensive currency on our list.

　　參考譯文：

　　盡管弱勢(shì)貨幣對(duì)于出口商和政府來(lái)說(shuō)是好事，但這并不是免費(fèi)的午餐。不過(guò)倒是可以提供一份便宜的午餐。在中國(guó)，一個(gè)麥當(dāng)勞巨無(wú)霸在北京和深圳的平均價(jià)格為14.5元人民幣，按市場(chǎng)匯率相當(dāng)于2.18美元。在美國(guó)，同樣的漢堡平均售價(jià)是3.71美元。按照以購(gòu)買(mǎi)力平價(jià)指標(biāo)為基礎(chǔ)的巨無(wú)霸指數(shù)來(lái)看，人民幣被低估了不少。根據(jù)巨無(wú)霸指數(shù)理論，貨幣的價(jià)格應(yīng)該反映其可以購(gòu)買(mǎi)的商品和服務(wù)的數(shù)量。既然14.5元人民幣可以購(gòu)買(mǎi)相當(dāng)于美國(guó)3.71美元的漢堡，1元人民幣應(yīng)該在外匯市場(chǎng)上等值于0.26美元。但實(shí)際僅為0.15美元，即人民幣被低估了大約40%。由于貨幣失調(diào)導(dǎo)致的緊張氣氛，使得巴西財(cái)長(zhǎng)上個(gè)月抱怨說(shuō)，該國(guó)成為了“貨幣戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)”的潛在受害者。瑞士雖然(作為中立國(guó))避開(kāi)了大部分戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，卻避不開(kāi)這場(chǎng)貨幣戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。瑞士法郎在我們這張列表中是被高估得最多的貨幣。

　　小編選注：

　　The Big Mac Index is published by The Economist as an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and provides a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It "seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible".

　　The Big Mac PPP exchange rate between two countries is obtained by dividingthe price of a Big Mac in one country (in its currency) by the price of a Big Mac in another country (in its currency). This value is then compared with the actual exchange rate; if it is lower, then the first currency is under-valued (according to PPP theory) compared with the second, and conversely, if it is higher, then the first currency is over-valued.

　　兩國(guó)的“巨無(wú)霸指數(shù)”計(jì)算法，是以一個(gè)國(guó)家的巨無(wú)霸以當(dāng)?shù)刎泿诺膬r(jià)格，除以另一個(gè)國(guó)家的巨無(wú)霸以當(dāng)?shù)刎泿诺膬r(jià)格。該商數(shù)用來(lái)跟實(shí)際的匯率比較;要是商數(shù)比匯率為低，就表示第一國(guó)貨幣的匯價(jià)被低估了(根據(jù)購(gòu)買(mǎi)力平價(jià)理論);相反，要是商數(shù)比匯率為高，則第一國(guó)貨幣的匯價(jià)被高估了。

　　舉例而言，假設(shè)一個(gè)巨無(wú)霸在美國(guó)的售價(jià)為$2.50，在英國(guó)的售價(jià)為 £2.00;購(gòu)買(mǎi)力平價(jià)匯率就是2.50 ÷2.00 = 1.25。如果當(dāng)時(shí)匯率為£1 = $1.82，則表示以兩國(guó)巨無(wú)霸的售價(jià)而言，英鎊兌美元的匯價(jià)被高估了45.6%((1.82-1.25)÷1.25×%)。

　　批評(píng)者認(rèn)為，巨無(wú)霸漢堡包指數(shù)忽略了不同國(guó)家的稅收、利潤(rùn)水平和原材料價(jià)格等因素的影響。

　　Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a theory of long-term equilibriumexchange rates based on relative price levels of two countries. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century and was developed in its modern form by Gustav Cassel in 1918. The concept is founded on the law of one price; the idea that in absence of transaction costs, identical goods will have the same price in different markets.

　　購(gòu)買(mǎi)力平價(jià)(Purchasing Power Parity，簡(jiǎn)稱PPP)，又稱相對(duì)購(gòu)買(mǎi)力指標(biāo)，是一種根據(jù)各國(guó)不同的價(jià)格水平計(jì)算出來(lái)的貨幣之間的等值系數(shù)，使我們能夠在經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)上對(duì)各國(guó)的國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值進(jìn)行合理比較，這種理論匯率與實(shí)際匯率可能有很大的差距。

　　該理論指出，在對(duì)外貿(mào)易平衡的情況下，兩國(guó)之間的匯率將會(huì)趨向于靠攏購(gòu)買(mǎi)力平價(jià)。一般來(lái)講，這個(gè)指標(biāo)要根據(jù)相對(duì)于經(jīng)濟(jì)的重要性考察許多貨物價(jià)格才能得出。