[LINK] Cost Of Living

[Jim Birch]

The cost of living isn't the sole determinant of quality of life but as a
general rule you will find a higher cost of living in more affluent places,
particularly in places where the GINI coefficient is relatively low because
there aren't an army of poor people to do the grunt work and,
coinidentally, bring the average cost of living down by going without
things that you would regard as normal. The cost of living is actually very
low in Somalia but no one is proposing it as the new Paradise no matter how
cheap it is to live there.  You have to look at what you get for your money
and what you have to do to get that money.  In general, the best places to
live - the places the worlds poor would love to move to - have high rates
of taxation and things are expensive. And you earn more, the electricity is
reliable, you can afford a hospital visit, there's less crime, you work
less hours in a safer job, etc, etc, etc.  There is apparently still plenty
to complain about so that human need is met too. :)

A major factor in the cost of living is the cost of owning property, for
personal use or to rent.  Australia has a housing bubble of around 40%, a
growing population, and a population who largely want to live in a few
places.  This makes property expensive.  If you removed housing from the
cost of living you'd find the pecking order changed significantly.  The
other big factor that pushes Australia up the list is that we are not
actually having a recession, unlike the US and Europe.  Add another 5%
unemployed to around the US level and we'd be out of top spots.  Go to
levels of unemployment like Spain and you'd find we move down the list
further.  There's nothing that reduces the cost of living like having no
money.

Reducing government waste, international price gouging, and super profits
might be good ideas but none of these are the big factor in your cost of
living, it's affluence that's the big "problem".

Jim