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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026

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A lazy barista is the west making a mediocre cup of coffee in 5 mins which sells for £4 will register as more productive than a highly skilled and experienced coffee guru barista in Istanbul selling premium coffee which he also makes in 5 mins for 50 TRY (around £0.8).

Turkish coffee and espresso-based drinks are very different products with different traditions and are enjoyed by different people with different tastes. The espresso-based coffee in Istanbul is globohomo tier. If PPP is being calculated correctly, a cappuccino in London and a cappuccino in Istanbul are approximately the same product and count approximately the same amount to PPP GDP.

Fair point, I agree the same (approximately) contribution to PPP GDP, however even globohomo coffee flavoured swill in England adds more to nominal GDP than the same liquid does in Istanbul. Then there's also the whole PPP vs Nominal debate to be had, there are genuine advantages (such as vacationing overseas) that come from being ahead (or more ahead) in nominal vs PPP terms, and of course the capital investment point still stands in how quickly people are able to produce the same level of PPP output.