> Cost of living is weird, since it ignores the fact that shopping on Amazon costs the same everywhere
This is because most goods are manufactured in Asia and imported. They differ in online retail price due to local/import taxes and in offline price due to labor/rent costs. Hence, if you purchase goods online, the price remains mostly the same within the same country.
It's an important exercise to consider whether globalised cheap labor is fair to the laborers, given that the profits of their labor are absorbed by the destination high-CoL market.
This is because most goods are manufactured in Asia and imported. They differ in online retail price due to local/import taxes and in offline price due to labor/rent costs. Hence, if you purchase goods online, the price remains mostly the same within the same country.
It's an important exercise to consider whether globalised cheap labor is fair to the laborers, given that the profits of their labor are absorbed by the destination high-CoL market.