Being Poor-ish Revisited: Reader Questions (2021)
&quot;but in case you want a real answer for Spain specifically, an internet person I know named Cassander explained to me that the basic cause of this is that because the US is richer than Spain, the quality of our good is higher and the the cost of labor similarly so; if I buy a can opener or rent a house, I’m forced to buy or rent something at a higher quality level&quot;<p>I am an American (San Franciscan) who have been staying in Córdoba Spain for half a year, and I see the opposite. The average quality of goods here is the same or often better than in the US. And everything is cheaper (and incomes are lower, too). All services are better: I was first stunned when a deli clerk at a medium level supermarket, similar to Safeway sliced me some cheese, and tried to carefully arrange all the slices vertically, before wrapping them, and then sincerely apologized because two slices broke. And it goes on.<p>Food (especially supermarket) is healthier in San Francisco, it&#x27;s higher quality and there&#x27;s more variety. It&#x27;s also way more expensive. The restaurant food is way tastier and cheaper in Spain, although i would not call it very healthy.<p>Problem is that certain goods (computers, phones, electronic components) are never Spanish, but a lot of cars and high tech bikes are, for example. I had a very hard time getting a replacement Dell XPS13 fan here: not sold on any Spanish sites, and very long customs delays for a $20 part when shipped from the US. I ended up buying a MacBook pro from a local Mac reseller.