SHOULD YOU BUY IT HERE.
AP Macroeconomics · Independent Project 2026

The Same Object,
a Different Price
at Every Border

Name a branded product. Decide whether you'd still want it with the logo hidden — then see which country in the world sells it for the least, in your own currency, and why the price moves when you cross a frontier.

Prototype Prices and exchange rates shown are illustrative estimates (≈ May 2026) entered while the database is built. Before final submission they'll be replaced with figures researched from brand websites in each region, reporting on luxury pricing, and central-bank exchange rates.
01 — Locale

Where are you shopping from?

This sets the currency every price below is shown in — the money you actually carry.



The Economics

Why a bag isn't a bag everywhere

Four ideas from the AP Macroeconomics open-economy unit, hiding inside that price tag.

I.

Exchange rates

A €1,650 bag costs more or fewer of your dollars, yen or won depending on the rate that day. When a currency depreciates — the yen weakening, say — goods priced in it suddenly look cheap to outside shoppers, and a wave of buyers follows.

Terms — appreciation · depreciation · foreign exchange market
II.

The law of one price

Purchasing-power parity says identical goods should cost the same everywhere once you convert currencies. They don't — this tool measures the gap. It is, in effect, a luxury-goods version of The Economist's Big Mac Index.

Terms — purchasing power parity · law of one price
III.

Taxes & tariffs

VAT is baked into European and Asian prices (8–22%); the United States adds sales tax only at the register. Import duties pile on when a product leaves its home region — which is why a French house is usually cheapest in France. Tourist VAT refunds, and Britain scrapping them in 2021, move the maths again.

Terms — tariff · VAT · import duty · trade barrier
IV.

Shopping tourism

When a currency is weak, foreigners fly in and shop — money flowing in for goods counts toward the trade balance, like an export, and feeds GDP. Japan's weak-yen luxury-shopping boom is the textbook live example.

Terms — net exports · trade balance · GDP

How It Works

The journey, in six steps

(Redraw this as a proper diagram for the presentation — the rubric asks for a user-flow visual.)

Open the site
Set your "shopping from" country— so prices appear in your currency
Search a product by name
See it de-branded — "would you still buy it?"
Reveal the country-by-country price ranking, chart and table
Read the macroeconomic reasons behind the spread