Is the cost of living in Russia really that low?

Konstantin Gluschenko ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: There is a widespread opinion that goods, especially foods, and services in Russia are very cheap as compared to the US. A number of Russian statistical indicators characterizing the cost of living, either directly or indirectly, seemingly corroborate this opinion. This paper demonstrates that these indicators are biased, sufficiently understating the cost of living in Russia. A comparison of Russian actual prices for foods with those in the US evidences that they are comparable. Moreover, the Russian prices are tending to catch up with the US prices.

Keywords: food prices; cost of living; minimum wage; subsistence level; Russia; US (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 O57 P22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis and nep-tra
Date: 2008-12
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:13315

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