Purchasing Power Maps (GfK)

[Tender Branson]

Europe (European average = 100)



US (US average = 100)



Canada (Canadian average = 100)



Germany/Austria/Switzerland (Average of all 3 countries = 100)

[Tender Branson]

Germany alone:



Austria alone:



Switzerland alone:

[Tender Branson]

Poland alone:

[Tender Branson]

France:



Italy:



Spain:



Netherlands:



Hungary:

[Tender Branson]

Interesting that in countries like France, Austria or Netherlands, the purchasing power in each district is no lower than 80% of the country average and it's also virtually no higher than 120% of the country average.

If you look at the US or Italy for example, there are HUGE differences between some areas and the rural areas (or North/South in Italy).

[Santander]

The contrast between North and South Italy has always been hilarious. One half is basically German and the other is basically Greek.

[Tender Branson]

Also:

Poland alone:

[parochial boy]

Well these maps make me feel awfully good about myself

[Bismarck]

Strange that Hendricks county Indiana doesn't stick out from the rural counties the way that it does on maps of household income.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's odd how the divide between Prussian Poland and Russian Poland can still be seen.

[vanguard96]

Europe (European average = 100)



US (US average = 100)



Canada (Canadian average = 100)



Germany/Austria/Switzerland (Average of all 3 countries = 100)

Thoughts on correlation with economic freedom which has Switzerland in the top 5 with Germany & Austria around 30th? Canada incidentally is also usually top 5 ahead of both the UK and US. Unfortunately that data is not split out on the county/sub-regional level.

North America it seems that low populations, low cost of living, and the natural gas boom puts places like North Dakota in the red.

[Mr. Morden]

Can I ask a dumb question here on the definition of purchasing power?  Am I understanding this right, that this is effectively a map of prices?  E.g., if you give me $100 and air drop me into one of these locations, then I'm able to buy more in the bluer areas on this map than the redder areas?

Because the other thing I was thinking was that this was a map of purchasing power-adjusted GDP, which would be a rather different thing.

EDIT: OK, wait, from looking at this:

http://www.gfk-geomarketing.com/en/market_data/market_data_by_theme/gfk_purchasing_power.html

I guess it is purchasing power-adjusted GDP per capita rather than prices?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's odd how the divide between Prussian Poland and Russian Poland can still be seen.

The "Russian" part also includes former Austrian partition of "Galicia".

[parochial boy]

Thoughts on correlation with economic freedom which has Switzerland in the top 5 with Germany & Austria around 30th? Canada incidentally is also usually top 5 ahead of both the UK and US. Unfortunately that data is not split out on the county/sub-regional level.

North America it seems that low populations, low cost of living, and the natural gas boom puts places like North Dakota in the red.

The darkest red area of Switzerland is the tax haven canton of Zug. Which, for some completely unfathomable reason, is packed full of "tax exiles", and a thriving industry of various sorts of investment funds and Multinational Corporations' European Headquarters (with a staff of three) ripping of the rest of the world thanks to Zug's relaxed approach to fiscal transparency.

The other darker areas around Lake Geneva and Basel are among the highest taxed and regulated areas of the country - but they do have a wealth of human capital and huge rates of immigration (most people in the Canton of Geneva have a foreign passport).

But it is worth emphasising how utterly disgusting of a place Zug is. It doesn't just harm the rest of the world, but the rest of Switzerland with its approach to "economic freedom".

[palandio]

Can I ask a dumb question here on the definition of purchasing power?  Am I understanding this right, that this is effectively a map of prices?  E.g., if you give me $100 and air drop me into one of these locations, then I'm able to buy more in the bluer areas on this map than the redder areas?

Because the other thing I was thinking was that this was a map of purchasing power-adjusted GDP, which would be a rather different thing.

EDIT: OK, wait, from looking at this:

http://www.gfk-geomarketing.com/en/market_data/market_data_by_theme/gfk_purchasing_power.html

I guess it is purchasing power-adjusted GDP per capita rather than prices?

Apparently not GDP, but purchasing power-adjusted net household income. Effects of this would be:
- The wages that a company pays are counted where the workers live, not where the company resides. Company profits would only be counted in the very moment in which a natural persons gets these profits as personal income.
- Pensions and other benefits are counted as income for the pensioneers and welfare recipients. The welfare state is imho one reason why the maps in much of Western Europe look more equilibrated than in the US.