The<unk>  was introduced by The Economist in September 1986 as a humorous illustration and has been published by that paper annually since then. The<unk>  also gave rise to the word burgernomics.
One suggested method of predicting exchange rate movements is that the rate between two currencies should naturally adjust so that a sample basket of goods and services should cost the same in both currencies.  In the<unk> , the "basket" in question is considered to be a single<unk> <unk>  sandwich as sold by the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain.  The<unk> <unk>  was chosen because it is available to a common specification in many countries around the world, with local McDonald's franchisees having significant responsibility for negotiating input prices.  For these reasons, the<unk>  enables a comparison between many countries' currencies. Some menu items are market specific, which would hinder a comparison, if used.  Still other menu items are specially priced, such as the dollar menu in many U.S. restaurants consisting of sandwiches and other items that cost $1.
The<unk> <unk>  PPP exchange rate between two countries is obtained by dividing the price of a<unk> <unk>  in one country (in its currency) by the price of a<unk> <unk>  in another country (in its currency).  This value is then compared with the actual exchange rate; if it is lower, then the first currency is under-valued (according to PPP theory) compared with the second, and conversely, if it is higher, then the first currency is over-valued.
For example, suppose the price of a<unk> <unk>  is $2.50 in the United States and £2.00 in the United Kingdom; thus, the PPP rate is 2.50/2.00 = 1.25. If, in fact, the US dollar buys £0.50 (or £1 = $2.01), then it is under-valued (1.25 < 2.01) with the respect to the pound by 38% in comparison with the price of the<unk> <unk>  in both countries (information as of 2007).
The Economist sometimes produces variants on the theme.  For example in January 2004, it showed a Tall Latte<unk>  with the<unk> <unk>  replaced by a cup of Starbucks coffee.  In a similar vein, in 1997, the newspaper drew up a "Coca-Cola map" that showed inverse proportionality between the amount of Cola consumed per capital in a country and that country's health.
The burger methodology has limitations in its estimates of the PPP. In many countries, eating at international fast-food chain restaurants such as McDonald's is relatively expensive in comparison to eating at a local restaurant, and the demand for<unk> <unk> s is not as large in countries like India as in the United States. Social status of eating at fast food restaurants like McDonald's, local taxes, levels of competition, and import duties on selected items may not be representative of the country's economy as a whole.  In addition, there is no theoretical reason why non-tradable goods and services such as property costs should be equal in different countries: this is the theoretical reason for PPPs being different from market exchange rates over time.  Nevertheless, the<unk>  has become widely cited by economists.
Big Mac Index
Malinas score
Alvarado score
Gangrene classification
Foreskin coverage index
Mallampati score
Rogers score
AMUSE score