For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

The 50 most expensive cities in the world (March 2012 v March 2011). Source: Mercer

http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-w...=1339479813872

Re: For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

I need someone to explain this to me. The Mercers study is designed for businesses deciding where to locate staff and therefore takes exchange rates into account. But 1. what is the foundation currency and 2. why is this report used year after year to decide where is most 'expensive' if it's not accounting for local currency? Read several stories about this just today and none have managed to explain anything about the premises used.

Re: For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

Its rubbish..

Re: For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

The media? Explain how they came to a conclusion? You must be delusional abi31! :eek: :rofl:

Re: For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

False advertising/reporting.

It is a US business person expat survey. So the benchmark is the US dollar at year dot of the survey. They survey costs in each country (ignoring wages) and then convert those costs at the current US/<Other Country> exchange rate. If the exchange rate changes so does the ranking regardless of actual cost of living.

This simply tells a US executive how far their US dollars will go if they are posted to each country but still earn in US dollars. For a simple US expat survey like this there is no need to take into account other countries wages because they don't care - it is just for US dollar earners and useless as a general cost of living ranking as it ignores local wages and also fluctuates wildly based on US exchange rates.

Some quotes from Mercer's website:

"New York is used as the base city and all cities are compared against it. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar."

"Cities in Australia and New Zealand witnessed some of the biggest jumps, as their currencies strengthened significantly against the US dollar.”

"With a few exceptions, the remaining European cities have all dropped in the rankings, mainly due to a considerable weakening of local currencies, including the euro, against the US dollar."

Re: For those thinking of moving ... better make it 2.5
 

Thanks Fish - you managed to explain it very clearly in a few short paragraphs - I understand it and can now ignore it!

I know Elice I was expecting far too much from popular media it's a good job Fish isn't a journalist he'd never fit in :p