2016 Annual Indices for Expatriates and Ordinary Residents on Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for World's Major Cities

<!-- <description> -->As cities continue to play an increasingly significant role in driving economic growth in many countries, competition among cities have shifted from the national level to the global arena. In this context, international benchmarks for cities are vital for businesses and individuals to make informed decisions. In particular, cost of living, wages and purchasing power are of great interest to employees, employers, multinational corporations and policy-makers as basic indicators tracking urban living standards.
This publication by the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) provides annual indices and rankings for cost of living for expatriates as well as indices and rankings for cost of living, wages and purchasing power for ordinary residents in 103 global cities since 2005. The ACI's study reflects salient differences in costs of living for expatriate and ordinary urban dwellers which arise from variations in their lifestyles and consumption preferences. This is of critical significance as cost of living for the former is usually conflated as that for the latter by the general public. In this book, we also delve into the analysis of the nexus between liveability, cost of living and purchasing power. We outline the trends and patterns of these benchmarks and explore if there are trade-offs between liveability and affordability. The ACI's study has received considerable interest from reputable media outlets such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Edge Malaysia.
<!-- </description> -->Contents: Understanding and Tracking Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for Expatriates and Ordinary ResidentsMethodology on Cost of Living for ExpatriatesMethodology on Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for Ordinary ResidentsFindings on Cost of Living for ExpatriatesFindings on Cost of Living, Wages and Purchasing Power for Ordinary ResidentsConcluding Remarks: Are Liveable Cities Expensive and Unaffordable?<!-- </contents> -->
<!-- <readership> -->Readership: Students; professionals; researchers; think-tanks; and, policy makers interested in developmental economics and surveys on cost of living, wages and purchasing power between residents and expatriates.<!-- </readership> -->
Keywords:Cost of Living;Purchasing Power;Residents;Expatriates;Wages IndexReview:“The Worldwide Cost of Living Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit was designed for human resources departments to figure out the cost of sending employees on business trips or to work overseas, often in a high-paying job. A group of academics at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy made their own index, which distinguished between expats and locals. It found that for expats, Singapore was about the fourth most expensive city in the world. But for the 'ordinary residents', it was 48th, wedged between Lisbon and Pittsburgh.”
Timothy McDonald
Journalist, BBC News
“The main contribution of the research done by ACI was that it can contribute to public policy as one cannot use expatriates for ordinary residents if public policy is the focus. In addition, though it is important to look at cost, the bigger concern is purchasing power. It does not matter if things are expensive as long as you can afford them. This is another point that I took away from the research and I was very happy to see that the team did purchasing power and not just cost of living.”
Nicholas Khaw
Vice President, Khazanah Research & Investment Strategy, Malaysia
Key Features:The ACI's pioneering attempt is the first ever comprehensive study on ordinary residents available todayAs for expatriates, cost of living researches are widely available but these are conducted in a much less rigorous manner than the ACI's studyOur research has been picked up by reputable international media outlets such as the BBC and the Edge Malaysia