Summary: Big Mac prices across countries can be better understood by measuring them in terms of time rather than money—specifically, how long people must work to afford one. Comparing time prices reveals meaningful differences in wages and productivity that aren’t obvious from currency values alone.

McDonald’s operates in over 100 countries worldwide. Since 1986, The Economist magazine has published the Big Mac Index, built on the theory of purchasing power parity (PPP)—the idea that exchange rates should equalize the price of an identical basket of goods across countries. The following shows the dollar price of a Big Mac in each country, sorted by price:

But we can go one step further.

Instead of comparing currencies, we can compare time.

We start with the nominal price of a Big Mac in each country, converted to U.S. dollars, and then compare it to average hourly earnings. Since average hourly earnings data are not available for all countries, GDP per capita divided by annual hours worked serves as a reasonable proxy for relative wages between countries.

This transforms the question from “What does it cost?” to “How long do you have to work to get it?” A Big Mac can be more expensive in money but less expensive in time, depending on where you live.

A Big Mac in Taiwan costs only $2.38, compared to $7.99 in Switzerland, but after adjusting for hourly earnings, the time prices are very similar. In Pakistan, a Big Mac costs $3.77, but hourly earnings are $0.86, putting the time price at 4.4 hours. In Denmark, the price is $5.49, but hourly earnings are $57.60, so the time price is under six minutes. For the time it takes a worker in Pakistan to earn enough to buy one Big Mac, workers in Denmark can buy more than 46.

The Big Mac doesn’t just measure currencies; it measures the spread of knowledge.

What looks like inequality in dollars is often a difference in productivity, learning, and institutional capacity. The real divide is not between rich countries and poor countries—it is between places where knowledge compounds and places where it is constrained.

When a sandwich falls from four hours of work to four minutes, something profound has happened—not to the burger, but to the growth and sharing of knowledge.

The story of abundance is not written in dollars. It is written in time.

Find more of Gale’s work at his Substack, Gale Winds.

“A new experimental study has identified a novel genetic locus in a common agricultural weed, Elymus repens, that provides significant resistance to the destructive fungal disease Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) and has now been successfully transferred into wheat to produce FHB resistant hybrids…

Dr. Yinghui Li and Houyang Kang’s research team’s new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, outlines how they successfully hybridized E. repens and cultivated wheat to transfer FHB-resistant genes from E. repens into the wheat.

When testing for the presence of FHB from deliberately infected plants, hybrid genotypes containing the resistance genes, labeled as 1StL, showed a 69% reduction in diseased plant spikelets under greenhouse conditions compared to the control wheat, and a 60% reduction under field conditions.”

From Phys.org.

“In Tanzania, nearly half of banana farmers in Kagera have adopted improved varieties introduced through a partnership led by ENABEL and KU Leuven, with CGIAR playing a crucial role in their selection and dissemination, helping secure food and livelihoods for over 125,000 people in the region…

An impact study by IITA reveals the scale of the transformation. By 2024, nearly 48% of banana farmers in Kagera had adopted these improved varieties, leading to 15% increase in productivity, reduced crop losses from pests and diseases and more farmers producing surplus for markets.

For households, this translates directly into better nutrition. Daily caloric intake among adopting families increased by 27%, reflecting improved food availability and diversity.

The impact extends beyond the farm.

As production increased, so did economic opportunities across the banana value chain. Traders expanded into larger and more distant markets, while processors began favoring the improved varieties for cooking and dessert, and better processing qualities. The region’s economy benefited from an estimated 119,000 additional tons of banana production annually, contributing nearly $7 million per year.”

From CGIAR.

“Federal fishery managers voted Sunday to open waters off the coast of California to commercial salmon fishing for the first time since 2022, with the population rebounding after wet winters ended a long drought.

The decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to allow limited commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast is a win for the state’s salmon fishing industry, which has grappled with years of season closures due to dwindling fish stocks. The council, which manages fisheries off the West Coast, barred commercial salmon fishing off California for the past three years. It voted last year to allow some recreational fishing for the first time since 2022.”

From Associated Press.