MATT YGLESIAS is in Europe, and he asks why European Coca-Cola
is so much more expensive than it is in America. Tyler Cowen
offers thoughts. Most of the best explanations seem to centre on
the demand-side. Here is Mr Cowen:  I am more inclined to cite
the elasticity of demand.  Here in the US of A people will drink
three or four cokes in a row, maybe more.  Or they will buy many
cans of coke for the whole family along with hot dogs, Twinkies,
Hellmann's mayonnaise, and other utility-maximizing
commodities.  But those high-volume strategies require a fairly
low price.  I haven't lived in Germany for over twenty years,
but my impression at the time was that you would drink one coke
at a main meal with your food and that was it.  (You also didn't
get very much in the Glas, but that's another story.)  They're
weren't aiming for volume sales by lowering the price, so
instead they would focus on the upper left part of the demand
curve.  This seems like a good time to cite The Economist's Big
Mac index. From the lat