taking the economy into consideration is an even more pointless exercise - the variables to consider are simply inexhaustive, not to mention unnecessary.
converting prices to USD on the other hand, is very useful for people who like to source for components from countries outside their home. i.e if you wanted to buy camera lenses, Singapore is a great place to buy because it's relatively cheap compared to almost everywhere in Asia aside from Hong Kong (same can be said about electronics in general). When you come to Singapore to buy lenses you don't care how much Singaporeans earn, how much taxes we pay, inflation rate, GDP etc, despite them having an impact on their perceived value to a Singaporean. And if i gave you monetary value without stating the currency or converting it into USD, that monetary value becomes absolutely useless because you wouldn't know what that price refers to.
given a pure arbitrage scenario without taking into count shipping/import duties, a standardized reference currency would elucidate the price differences across countries in exact numerical values. this difference in values is also the reason why parallel imports exist - to take advantage of such price discrepancies. you can be sure that a level headed person engaging in such arbitrage activities is relatively unconcerned about the microeconomics in a country. the price discrepancy exists, hence the trade opportunity exists, and is taken advantage of. we live in a global world. countries with higher priced products are considered "more expensive" on a globally weighted absolute basis, and local economics does not factor in. if I live in Singapore and I can obtain a product here for 100 bucks and the same costs 500bucks in the states (shipping/duties included) then it is cheaper here, period. Again, comparing real value (adjusted for economic factors such as wage) is completely pointless when addressing an international audience that doesn't care less. Since we are clearly discussing prices for the benefit of such an audience, it makes perfect sense to just quote in USD or at least mention what currency you're using.
hope that sets the record straight. I shouldn't have bothered to write all that, but your condescending post involving a meaningless minimum wage calculation just annoyed me. in your aussie case, yes you don't have to express values in USD if it makes you feel better quoting in Australian, just that people from the states (the majority here) would have to process that figure into USD on their own in order to derive any meaning out of it. suit yourself, but just quoting a number without any currency indicator automatically lets people assume it's in USD, which gives a false impression. now whether the USD should continue to be the de facto global currency in global financial markets is a different subject altogether...perfects more suitable for another time.
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Converting to USD doesn't mean much in many instances. It doesn't take the economy into consideration. EG: K702= $599 in AUS (AUD), which = $631.35 USD
Now minimum wage in Australia is $15.51 which is $16.35 USD, however minimum wage in many US states = $7.25 - $8
Converting prices to USD from Australia is useless.