Click here to visit the new home of Blackvoices!

HOT ON HUFFPOST BLACKVOICES:

 

Categories

Contributors

Other BV Blogs

The Most Expensive Cities in the World: Hint - NY Is Not One of Them

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 28th 2010 12:22PM
Filed under: Celebrity Finances, Dr. Boyce Money, News

Comments (3)

I am a New Yorker. Sure, I hail from Syracuse (originally from Kentucky), which is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the city, but I spend enough time in the big city to end up yelling obscenities to myself every time I pay for a $17 movie ticket or $150 for dinner with my daughter. Life is expensive in NYC, which is one of the reasons why I don't plan to live there full-time anytime soon.

But after seeing a list of the most expensive cities in the world, I felt a little bit better about my plight. I found out that New York is not at the top of the list, or even close. Actually, the most expensive city in the world is actually Tokyo. In this ridiculously expensive place, you can expect to pay $18 for lunch on average, and a can of beer will cost you $3.37. A movie ticket is $22 per person, and rent for a two bedroom apartment will cost an average of $5,000 per month.


Next on the list is Oslo, Norway. In this city, the average lunch for one person costs an astonishing $43. I'm not sure how they ended up behind Tokyo on the list. A can of beer costs $4.71 and a dozen eggs costs $6.72.

Third on the list is Luanda, Angola. In this place, you can expect to spend $47 on lunch. But if the high prices have you crying in your beer, the cost of a can is only going to be $1.47. A two-bedroom crib will run you about $3,500 per month.

The factors that make a country's goods expensive can vary, but a few of them can be the following: One is the value of the country's currency, which affects the cost that foreigners are going to pay for the nation's goods. Secondly, prices are affected by the strength of the area's economy, along with population, which tends to increase when there are more economic opportunities. New York, for example, is an expensive place to live in part because a large percentage of the state's jobs are in the city. So, there are quite a few New Yorkers who complain about the cost of living, but they wouldn't trade it for the world. Personally, I really do love New York.

More Hot Stories:

+Tiger Woods' Wife Earned $411,000 Per Day During Marriage

+No, Oprah Winfrey's Contest Didn't Cheat for the Black Woman

+Katherine Jackson May Get Financial Backlash from Judge

+Howard Stern Attacks Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.


Comments: (2)

Add a comment

Page 1 of 1

Add a Comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed but they are required to confirm your comments. When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password."

Most Commented Articles

Daily Drama

The Best Clips From TV's Hottest Shows

More Daily Drama >>

Find a Message Board

Discover conversations on everyone from Barack to Beyonce. There are nearly 50 forums, so click on a category below and find the right one for you.