Comparison of prices in Argentina and other counties

[MilHojas]

A dólar blue y al oficial: cuáles son los productos argentinos más caros y más baratos comparados con el exterior

El Instituto de Estudios (IERAL) de la Fundación Mediterránea difundió un informe en el que analiza los precios de diversos productos en Argentina, comparados con los que se pagan en otros 14 países. Cuánto cuestan los productos básicos de la canasta.

www.ambito.com

 

[Ries]

Argentines never want to believe how expensive the US is compared to Argentina.
Of course, to quote Jimmy Carl Black - “ If we all had been living in California”.
which is to say- if you earn in pesos, it’s still expensive here.

 

[Quilombo]

So while it's true that Argentina is cheaper than some countries and Argentines often forget this (i.e. they think about earning in dollars and euros with Argentina prices in pesos), it's also really weird to me that the authors of this article completely ignored the concept of Purchasing Power Parity, i.e. the Subte could be 1¢ here, but that doesn't mean a thing if you only make a dollar a month for example.

If we adjust for PPP based on the monthly minimum wage and use the Blue (the only real exchange rate) this is what some things look like in comparison:

Item​	Price in USD in BSAS​	Price as % of Monthly Minimum Wage​	Price in USD in...​	Price as % of Monthly Minimum Wage​	AR is...​
2L of Water​	33¢​	0.0017%​	NYC: $1.50​	0.00062%​	More Expensive​
12 Eggs​	$1.87​	0.0096%​	Madrid: $2.27​	0.00215%​	More Expensive​
1 Metro Ticket​	15¢​	0.0007%​	Tokyo: $1.30​	0.001%​	Cheaper​
iPhone 12​	$950​	488%​	Sao Paulo: $902​	377%​	More Expensive​
1 Bedroom Apartment​	$254.45​	130%​	Mexico City: $669.17​	354%​	Cheaper​

 

[antipodean]

So while it's true that Argentina is cheaper than some countries and Argentines often forget this (i.e. they think about earning in dollars and euros with Argentina prices in pesos), it's also really weird to me that the authors of this article completely ignored the concept of Purchasing Power Parity, i.e. the Subte could be 1¢ here, but that doesn't mean a thing if you only make a dollar a month for example.

If we adjust for PPP based on the monthly minimum wage and use the Blue (the only real exchange rate) this is what some things look like in comparison:

Item​	Price in USD in BSAS​	Price as % of Monthly Minimum Wage​	Price in USD in...​	Price as % of Monthly Minimum Wage​	AR is...​
2L of Water​	33¢​	0.0017%​	NYC: $1.50​	0.00062%​	More Expensive​
12 Eggs​	$1.87​	0.0096%​	Madrid: $2.27​	0.00215%​	More Expensive​
1 Metro Ticket​	15¢​	0.0007%​	Tokyo: $1.30​	0.001%​	Cheaper​
iPhone 12​	$950​	488%​	Sao Paulo: $902​	377%​	More Expensive​
1 Bedroom Apartment​	$254.45​	130%​	Mexico City: $669.17​	354%​	Cheaper​

I was talking to a cabify driver the other day who complained he needs to work for more than a week just to be able to buy a $30.000 winter jacket from Zara or somewhere similar, which of course is simply unobtainable given his other living expenses, whereas in Spain to buy a similar jacket from Zara would be EUR70 max - so even with minimum wage of EUR 1050 it would only take about two days of work to get the same thing (and what is worse, even with basic unemployment benefit there of EUR430, the jacket would still be more "affordable" than if working 12+ hours a day for an "above average" blue-collared income here...)

While the grass is never as green as it may look anywhere, I am always amazed by those foreigners here who cannot fathom why so many working class Argentines want to move abroad as if it is universally cheap or value for money here... before of course going on to talk about which service can get more pesos for their dollars or how much Don Julio would be "back home".

 

[Quilombo]

While the grass is never as green as it may look anywhere, I am always amazed by those foreigners here who cannot fathom why so many working class Argentines want to move abroad as if it is universally cheap or value for money here... before of course going on to talk about which service can get more pesos for their dollars or how much Don Julio would be "back home".

Expats have a very distorted sense of reality here; would anyone work for $1.21/hour? I don't think so, yet millions of Argentines do, and struggle because of it, and it's only gotten worse over time.

The minimum wage is now $194.70/month, the lowest it's been since 2005. Alberto could raise it anytime, but he choses not to, and people languish for it.