The rouble's fall has slashed their costs (measured in dollars), making their dollar-denominated exports far more profitable.
Like airlines, restaurants are in "a very cyclical business," with mostly fixed costs measured against revenue that fluctuates by hour, day and season, said Chuck Templeton, the chairman and founder of OpenTable Inc., an Internet-based reservations site (www.opentable.com).com
As for the rest, Nielsen is apparently using unit labor costs measured in domestic currency — which misses the whole point, which is that depreciation reduces your costs in other peoples' currency.
Annual medical costs, measured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development using purchasing-power parities, which take account of price differences, amount to $5,635 per person in America compared with $2,231 in Britain.
With production costs measured in other currencies, the yen's devaluation has not been able to boost export volumes direct from Japan in the way it used to.For the time being, investors are shrugging off the bad news.
If the comparison is adjusted for the fact that budget airlines do shorter (ie, proportionately more costly to operate) routes, some think the budget carriers' costs, measured on a comparable basis, would be as low as half those of traditional airlines.
