Monday, August 06, 2007

Public School Socialists ...

Via Harry, this Prospect piece on the changing music market. As the value of recorded music drops, the value of live music increases. But it was this that struck me :

Even the less prosperous citizens of Chile were asked to pay £80 to watch Coldplay in Santiago's Espacio Riesco, a considerable sum in a city where the average monthly salary is around £250.

5 comments:

Ross said...

That $250 figure sounds implausible. Chile has a GDP per capita of slightly over $13000 or around £7000, or between £600 an £700 pounds. Santiago being the capital almost certainly has a higher income per capita than the rest of the country.

'Eddie Willers' said...

"Ross F said...
That $250 figure sounds implausible. Chile has a GDP per capita of slightly over $13000"

Two words - "Gini Index".

It's possible to have a relatively high GDP/capita (here in Mexico its c.US$10,700 (source: CIA Factbook)) but for the average income to be low.

Check out the stats at www.nationmaster.com

Anonymous said...

Actually the difference between the average wage and GDP per capita figures in this case is due to the fact that the 13,000 dollar figure is based on purchasing power parity. You will find that nominal GDP per capita is much lower, but, as Chile is much cheaper than Britain, they can buy more than twice as much in terms of goods and services with 250 pounds a week (6,000 dollars a year) than we can.

Anonymous said...

To make clearer what I wrote above, the 250 pound figure is nominal, not PPI, so comparing it with the 13,000 dollar figure is like comparing apples with oranges.

Ross said...

Yes, for some reason I had thought that the $13000 figure was nominal rather than PPP.kiywvojf