OpinionJuly 24, 2026 — 5:00amAn economist walks into a McDonald’s store. He scans the menu for its prices, asks the worker behind the counter how much they are paid, orders a burger, then plugs the numbers into a database.It sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s actually the process behind a famous tool called the Big Macs [Earned] Per Hour index, which any of us can contribute to (and be paid for in the form of a free Macca’s meal! Stay tuned to find out how).In economics, there’s a famous saying that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. But you could get one for helping with economic research.Matt DavidsonPrinceton University economics professor Orley Ashenfelter has travelled the world visiting McDonald’s stores. Occasionally, as he did last week in his visit to the University of Western Australia, Ashenfelter travels for other purposes … such as to share the findings of his Macca’s runs over the years.Many of us are familiar with “real wages”. It’s the measure used to determine the “purchasing power” of our wages: how much we can actually buy with the money we earn. It’s especially important when measuring our wages over time. Why? Because inflation – or price rises – can eat away at the value of our income.If you get a pay rise of 5 per cent one year, you might be tempted to go treat yourself, perhaps to a celebratory burger. But if the prices you’re paying for things such as food and petrol have also climbed 5 per cent that year, you would effectively be no better off. You might feel richer temporarily, but when you go to get yourself that once-a-year burger – and go to pay – you might not feel so McHappy any more.This is a problem Australians have faced for several years. Of course, it’s not like most of us are suffering price shock specifically from burgers, which probably make up a tiny share of our overall spending, but prices more broadly have climbed faster than our pay for several years after the pandemic.Wage growth finally started outpacing inflation again in December 2023, but we’re yet to be back at the purchasing power we had before the pandemic. It’s why a lot of Australians feel their living standards have stagnated or gone backwards – because for many of us, they have, when measured by how much we can buy.But it’s not all bad news for Aussies, especially for some of our lowest paid people, including McDonald’s workers.Why? Well, we rank pretty well when it comes to the value, or purchasing power, of our incomes – which we can see through our performance on the Big Macs Per Hour index.But why are we using Big Macs and McDonald’s wages instead of any other product (or, indeed, any bunch of goods or wages that might give us a broader sense of what’s happening in the economy?)Well, the main reason is that McDonald’s is fantastically consistent around the world. Different countries have special options available, such as a teriyaki chicken burger in Japan or the Maharaja Mac in India, but nearly all McDonald’s restaurants offer the exact same Big Mac, made almost identically, and using the same technology, across the world.That ensures we’re measuring the same thing – rather than a bunch of burgers made by different chains, or a bunch of products that might seem similar, but actually might be quite different. Using a Big Mac makes sure the comparison between countries is fair and accurate.Meanwhile, the wages McDonald’s workers are paid are not the same across countries. Their responsibilities, though, are generally pretty identical – again making it easier to make sure we’re measuring the same thing across countries.What’s different – and what we’re interested in – is the wage paid to these workers by Macca’s stores in each country, as well as the different prices they charge for Big Macs.Those two things allow us to calculate how much (or how many burgers) the average McDonald’s worker’s wage in every country can buy. And that gives us an idea of the purchasing power of workers in that country.For example, in India, a McDonald’s worker has to flip burgers for about four hours to be able to buy just one Big Mac. In Korea, McDonald’s staff can work just one hour and buy nearly two Big Macs – or work the same number of hours as their Indian colleagues and walk away with nearly eight Big Macs.And Australia? Well, we’re apparently among the top. While most developed countries sit at about two Big Macs per hour worked, our Macca’s workers get paid enough to buy 3.3 Big Macs for every hour worked – or 13 burgers if they put in a four-hour shift.Very simply, that suggests Australian workers, especially those on minimum wage, might have some of the best living standards in the world (beaten only by Denmark and Switzerland). That’s partly thanks to minimum wage requirements in Australia which “artificially” lift Australian McDonald’s wages above those in many other countries.But according to Ashenfelter, the Big Macs Per Hour index can also reflect a country’s productivity. While stagnant growth in productivity (our ability to get more out of our limited resources) has been a big economic pain point for the country recently, Australia’s relatively high index number suggests we may also be quite productive compared with other countries.Why? Because, as the famous saying goes, “time is money”. Our output, or how much we produce and how wealthy we are, can be calculated using time, not just dollars. If an Australian worker can earn enough to buy a Big Mac in 20 minutes, while a worker in India needs to work for four hours, it suggests Aussies are able to produce more – and more efficiently generate wealth – than their Indian counterparts.Of course, that’s probably more a reflection of the institutions, economic structure, regulations and wider technological advancements in Australia compared with India, rather than a reflection of workers’ ability or work ethic. But nonetheless, the data points to higher living standards and productivity in Australia.And sure, our minimum wages may be a lot higher than in India. But part of the reason we’re able to do this without stoking inflation is because a relatively small share of our workers – about one in five – are on minimum wages, and because our productivity is substantially higher thanks to technology such as higher use of digital ordering devices.The index is not perfect. For example, not every country has McDonald’s and the price of a Big Mac doesn’t perfectly represent all the living costs a person in that country might face such as housing costs, nor the different spending patterns across the world (Americans might have McDonald’s in their dinner rotation more frequently than a country where it’s seen as more of a treat, for example). It also may not account for taxes, benefits or superannuation contributions that affect take-home pay or costs across the wider economy.However, like most tools in economics, it’s a way of simplifying the world to help us get a rough idea of how things work and to measure changes over time – and across countries.In economics, there’s a saying that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”: that is, if you get something for free, someone else is usually paying for it.But for those wanting a free meal, Ashenfelter is happy to be the one footing the bill – as long as you’re willing to contribute to his research.“If you go to a McDonald’s restaurant in a really interesting place that’s not just Sydney or Perth but a really interesting place, you buy a Big Mac, ask the worker who serves you how much they’re paid, and send me that information and the bill, I’ll pay for your dinner,” he says.Ashenfelter’s offer is one of the ways he and his team across the world are collecting data outside the major cities where data is often harder to collect.So, whether you’re an economist or not, next time you’re on a Macca’s run in an interesting place, and you don’t want to spend your hard-earned wages on a burger, you can contribute to economic research – and get a free lunch.The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.Millie Muroi is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra’s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X or email.From our partners