The Big Mac Index has been used to compare prices across countries, as we have noted before. Argentina currently has very high prices due to a combination of inflation and a strong economy, and this shows up glaringly in the Big Mac Index.
Tyler Cowen reports (translating a Spanish original) that the Argentinian government has persuaded McDonalds to lower the price of the Big Mac (relative to other McDonalds items, and relative to competing hamburgers), so that Brazil’s Big Mac Index becomes more competitive.
In other words, the real price of the Big Mac rose nearly twice as much as the official statistics were willing to admit, in Argentina of course. That’s not right, so the government sprang into action. The minister of the commerce department “persuaded” McDonald’s to price the Big Mac at $16, while other sandwiches at the chain are in the $21 to $23 range.
Example:
http://www.statschat.org.nz/2011/11/16/goodharts-law-and-brazilian-hamburgers/
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/11/sentences-to-ponder-32.html