| When I was in France a couple of years ago, I killed a little time reading the real estate section of a newspaper. It turned out that one could get a lot more bang for the buck in France than in the United States. I noticed too that, contrary to expectation, local restaurants were cheaper, for similar meals, than French restaurants would be in the United States. Now, some things cost more, like a Coke or gas, and some things were around the same price, but to an amazing degree, one could find bargains. Finally, I realized why: the French are well below us in parity purchasing power, and therefore could not move a lot of items at US prices. In other words, I do not think it had to do with the exchange rate, but with the "bidding power" of the French consumer....... |
