Little Mac Index

McDonald's has prospered globally because it offers a standard product, whether in Buffalo or Beijing. The Economist seized on this to create the Big Mac Index for measuring purchasing- power parity. Comparing prices of a standardized product can give a quick indication of where currencies are headed. But what if The Econ-omist's fundamental assumption was wrong? What if a Big Mac isn't always a big Mac? In the U.S., McDonald's flagship hamburger weighs 219 grams. In Austria, it slips one gram to 218g, which isn't statistically significant. Germans, though, get only 211g of wholesome nutrition, about the same as the Poles. Where it becomes really interesting is in the CR and Slovakia. A Big Mac there weighs only 200g, a whopping 8.7% less than on the U.S. market. Even Ronald McDonald would have to admit that a deviation of this size wreaks havoc in the world of burgernomics. [Czech Republic United States]