(PPP) Richland and Poor land each have two industries: traded TVs and non traded house maintenance. The world price of TVs is R$100 (R$ = Richland dollar). Assume for now that the exchange rate is R$1 = 1 PP (PP = Poor land peso) and that prices are flexible. It takes 1 day for a worker in each country to visit and maintain 1 house. It takes 1 day for a Richland worker to make a TV, and 4 days for a Poor land worker.
a. What is the Richland wage in R$ per day? What is the Poor land wage in PP per day? In R$ per day? What is the ratio of Poor land to Richland wages in a common currency?
b. What is the price of a house maintenance visit in each country?
c. Assume people in each country spend half their income on TVs and half on house maintenance. Compute the CPI (consumer price index) for each country given by the square root of (TV price) times (gardening price).
d. Compute the standard of living in each country by dividing local currency wages by the CPI from part (c)? Is Poor land really as poor as suggested by the last answer in part (a)?
e. Productivity now doubles in the Poor land TV industry, all else equal. How many days does it now take for Poor land workers to make a TV? What happens to the wage in Poor land? The price of haircuts? The CPI?
f. If the central bank of Poor land wants to avoid inflation in this situation, how would it like to adjust the exchange rate?