What Donald Trump can learn from the Big Mac index
Should the presidential candidate go on another crusade against the yuan?
Little is more symbolic of globalisation than a McDonald’s hamburger. The American fast-food chain opened its first Chinese branch in 1990. The outlet was in Shenzhen, a small town just across the border from Hong Kong, which was home to the country’s original “Special Economic Zone”—an area where the Chinese government could try market liberalisation before rolling it out to the rest of the country. The Big Mac was a little piece of American capitalism in a communist country.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Milkshake and lies”
Finance & economics January 27th 2024
- Wall Street titans are betting big on insurers. What could go wrong?
- As China’s markets suffer, what alternatives do investors have?
- Investors may be getting the Federal Reserve wrong, again
- What Donald Trump can learn from the Big Mac index
- Why sweet treats are increasingly expensive
- How American states squeeze athletes (and remote workers)
- The false promise of friendshoring
From the January 27th 2024 edition
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