Where are the world’s most expensive cities?

IN THE 1980s Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist working in Paris, identified a rare condition suffered by some Japanese visitors who were disappointed by the French capital. The peculiar disorder, whose symptoms include hallucinations, anxiety and dizziness, was dubbed pari shōkōgun. “Paris syndrome” has been eradicated this year, owing to the near-total shutdown of international travel. But for many city residents confronted by local prices, the palpitations and eye-rubbing persist.

According to the latest findings of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), our sister company, the French capital has the highest living costs in the world. Hong Kong and Zurich share the top spot in the survey, which compares the prices of nearly 140 products and services in 133 cities around the world. The results are primarily used by firms to negotiate appropriate compensation when relocating staff, but they also reveal the myriad ways covid-19 is affecting the cost of living.

The transition away from going into an office to work is behind many of the shifts in spending patterns. With more people working from home, the price of laptops and computers has shot up—by 18.7%, on average, since 2019. Meanwhile, with non-essential stores shut during lockdowns, sales of clothing and footwear plummeted, sending prices down with them. Although there was a shift to online retailing, many consumers opted to rethink their sartorial spending, with trousers being left on the peg in favour of Zoom-friendly tops.

People have also turned to popular vices to cope with the pandemic. Despite its deleterious effect on the immune system, alcohol has been in high demand, causing prices to rise. Smokers are paying more, too—all five Australian cities in the index saw double-digit percentage increases in tobacco prices. They can take comfort from research suggesting that, if they get covid-19, they are “much less likely” than non-smokers to suffer severe cases.

Supply-chain problems also took their toll, though covid-19 was not always to blame. Political turmoil in Syria continues to inflate food prices in Damascus, and American sanctions on Iran caused Tehran to leap 27 places to 79th in the EIU’s ranking. But as is common in 2020, everything comes back to covid-19. Panic buying of pasta and toilet rolls earlier this year led to shortages and subsequent price rises, and the virus even caused production delays in consumer electronics after a big manufacturing hub was shut down in Wuhan, China.