Deloitte's Christmas quiz

Our Christmas quiz covers an eclectic mix of topics, many related to economics and business, in 12 questions. The answers and a brief explanation of the factors at work are provided at the end.

1. Which country’s housing market has gained the infamous title of being the most overpriced relative to incomes in 2023?
A. Canada
B. South Korea
C. United Kingdom
D. United States

2. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which one of the following cities boasts the enviable status of being the “Most Liveable City” in 2023?
A. London, United Kingdom
B. Edinburgh, United Kingdom
C. Stockholm, Sweden
D. Vienna, Austria

3. Which UK supermarket’s mince pies topped this year’s Which? magazine blind taste test?
A. Co-op
B. Marks & Spencer
C. Tesco
D. Waitrose

4. In 2021, then UK chancellor now prime minister, Rishi Sunak, froze personal tax thresholds until 2026. The current chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed the freezes until 2029. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, how much will the UK government pocket in 2029 thanks to the freezing of the personal tax thresholds? (Hint: According to HM Revenue & Customs, a 1p increase in the basic rate of income would generate £6.8bn additional tax revenues by 2027.)
A. £5.2bn
B. £10.5bn
C. £22.1bn
D. £44.6bn

5. Inflation in the UK reached a multi-decade high of 11.1% in October 2022. Since then inflation has come down, even faster than some projections, reaching 4.7% in October 2023. Among the consumer basket of goods and services, which one of the following experienced the most dramatic price hike in the 12 months to October 2023?
A. Eggs
B. Natural gas
C. Motor vehicle insurance
D. Olive Oil

6. After struggling during lockdowns, the cinema industry has rebounded strongly with worldwide admissions in 2023 growing 25% compared with 2022 and reaching 7.1bn. As more and more people returned to the cinema, which one of the following was the highest-grossing film worldwide in 2023?
A. Barbie
B. Big George Foreman
C. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
D. Oppenheimer

7. From the start of 2023 until the end of November, which one of the following currencies depreciated the most against the US dollar, according to official exchange rates?
A. Argentine peso
B. Lebanese pound
C. Syrian pound
D. Zimbabwean dollar

8. As of 30 November 2023, which one of the following companies emerged as the best-performing in the FTSE 100 since the start of the year?
A. Luxury clothing retailer, Burberry Group
B. High-street retailer, Marks & Spencer Group
C. Aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Holdings
D. Oil industry company, BP

9. According to the Common Sense Institute, an economic research body in Colorado, how much additional consumer spending could Taylor Swift’s latest US tour generate?
A. $490m
B. $1.6bn
C. $2.2bn
D. $4.6bn

10. On the 30th of November 2023 ChatGPT has its first birthday. Tracking the meteoric rise of the AI chatbot, how many months did it take for ChatGPT to captivate and engage 100m users? (Hint: It took 2.5 years for Instagram to reach 100m users.)
A. 2 months
B. 3 months
C. 6 months
D. 9 months

11. Despite a global bout of inflation, most countries in the world are running government deficits. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that this year 158 out of 190 countries will run government deficits. According to IMF forecasts, which one of the following high-income countries is predicted to borrow the most amount of money as a share of GDP in 2023?
A. Norway
B. Qatar
C. Japan
D. United States

12. With the season of festive cheer and gift-giving approaching, which one of the following countries spends the most on Christmas as a share of monthly income?
A. France
B. Romania
C. United Kingdom
D. Italy

Answers

1. Which country’s housing market has gained the infamous title of being the most overpriced relative to incomes in 2023?
A. Canada
B. South Korea
C. United Kingdom
D. United States

Answer: A – Canada. Canadian house prices rank as being more overvalued relative to disposable income than in any other OECD country. While Canada tops the overvaluation league, other anglophone countries tend to rank high on the list, with the UK in seventh place and the US in eleventh place. Housing is cheapest in South Korea, which ranks at the bottom of the OECD valuation rankings.

Answer: D – Vienna, Austria. The Austrian capital topped the ranking, with Copenhagen and Melbourne in second and third places, respectively. The EIU commended Vienna’s “winning combination of stability, good culture and entertainment, reliable infrastructure, and exemplary education and health services”. The most highly rated cities tend to be in Western Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. Big, densely populated cities with relatively high levels of crime and congestion tend to do less well. Damascus remains, as it has been for over a decade, rated as the least liveable city.

3. Which UK supermarket’s mince pies topped this year’s Which? magazine blind taste test?
A. Co-op
B. Marks & Spencer
C. Tesco
D. Waitrose

Answer: A – Co-op. Co-op came top out of ten premium own-label mince pies in a blind tasting covering aroma, appearance, texture and taste. Co-op Irresistible Luxury Mince Pies cost £2.75 for six, less than lower-rated pies, but more expensive options including Waitrose No.1 Brown Butter Mince Pies cost £4 for six. Which? reports that on average mince pies cost 10.5% more than 12 months ago, a faster rate of inflation than the latest all-items rate of 4.6%.

4. In 2021, then UK chancellor and now prime minister, Rishi Sunak, froze personal tax thresholds until 2026. The current chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed the freezes until 2029. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, how much will the UK government pocket in 2029 thanks to the freezing of the personal tax thresholds? (Hint: According to HM Revenue & Customs, a 1p increase in the basic rate of income would generate £6.8bn additional tax revenues by 2027.)
A. £5.2bn
B. £10.5bn
C. £22.1bn
D. £44.6bn

Answer: D – £44.6bn, equivalent to raising the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 26p. As inflation increases the cost of living and wages, nominal pay rises. Freezing income tax thresholds means that people pay more in tax and more people enter higher tax brackets. This offers a far less obvious way of raising taxes than raising tax rates. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects 4m more people to start paying income tax as a result of the freeze, 3m more to move to the 40p rate and 400,000 more to pay the 45p rate.

Answer: C – Motor vehicle insurance. The price of vehicle insurance has risen by 51.2% over the last 12 months with rising material, labour and energy costs contributing to a sharp rise in repair costs and insurance premiums. The price of olive oil rose 50.2% due to extreme weather hitting harvests in Italy and Spain. Weather was also to blame for a 49.6% increase in sugar prices, due to unusually dry conditions in India and Thailand. After reaching record levels in 2022 on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, natural gas prices have fallen 31.6% over the last 12 months.

Answer: A – Barbie generated $1.44bn at the box office, just ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie at $1.36bn. Oppenheimer ranked third in this year’s box office in terms of worldwide sales, reaching $950m. The film Big George Foreman was the biggest loss-making film of 2023, generating sales of $5.7m against a cost of $32m.

Answer: B – Lebanese pound. The Lebanese pound was devalued in February by 90%. According to the World Bank, Lebanon’s situation ranks among the “most severe crises… globally since the mid-nineteenth century,” and is the product of three decades of reckless fiscal and monetary policy. The crisis has seen GDP contract by 40%, pushed inflation into triple-digits and drained two-thirds of the central bank’s foreign currency reserves. The Argentinian peso has fallen 50% against the US dollar as its economy grapples with high inflation and a shrinking economy. Syria was readmitted to the Arab League in April, but its economy has been devastated by war, instability in Lebanon, sanctions and high inflation. Its currency has fallen by 80% against the dollar. Zimbabwe’s economy has been in turmoil for over 20 years with rampant inflation leading so far this year to an 88% devaluation against the dollar. The rates quoted here are all official rates. On the black market all of these currencies trade at far lower levels. The current black market rate for the Lebanese pound, for instance, is almost 90,000 to the US dollar, six times the official rate.

Answer: C – Rolls-Royce whose shares have risen 185% this year. Rolls-Royce’s success was helped by rising demand for civil air travel and for military aircraft. UK retailer Marks & Spencer had a bumper year with its share price increasing over 100%. After large gains in 2022 oil and gas company shares have stabilised with BP’s share price up 1% year-to-date. Slowing demand for luxury goods especially in China has affected luxury goods retailers. The Burberry share price has fallen 25% year-to-date.

Answer: D – $4.6bn. Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour has helped generate significant revenues for host cities. The tour’s opening night in Glendale, Arizona brought in more revenue for local businesses than the Super Bowl, held at the same venue earlier this year. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted in its May Beige Book that Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Philadelphia had been a boon for the city’s tourism industry. Booking.com noted that hotel prices more than tripled in anticipation of the tour in some cities.

10. On the 30th of November 2023, ChatGPT had its first birthday. How many months did it take for ChatGPT to reach 100m users? (Hint: It took 2.5 years for Instagram to reach 100m users.)
A. 2 months
B. 3 months
C. 6 months
D. 9 months

Answer: A – 2 months. It took TikTok 9 months to reach 100m users, WhatsApp 3.5 years and Netflix 10 years. As of November this year, it is estimated that ChatGPT has over 180m users worldwide.

Answer: D – United States. The US government is set to borrow 8.2% of its GDP this year. Higher welfare and debt servicing costs, increased military and infrastructure spending and the effect of Trump-era tax cuts have contributed to the US deficit. Japan’s borrowing is forecast to be equivalent to 5.6% of its GDP in 2023. Norway and Qatar have benefitted from high energy prices and they are forecast to repay government debt, rather than borrow.

Answer: B – Romania. According to research by WorldAtlas, Romanians are the most generous when it comes to Christmas, spending on average 32% of their monthly income on the festive season. In third place, we have the UK with 15% of average monthly income spent on Christmas, despite topping the rankings in absolute terms by spending €420 per person. Italy ranks as the fifth most generous nation, spending 12% of monthly income on Christmas and France ranks eighth with 11%.

A personal view from Ian Stewart, Deloitte’s Chief Economist in the UK. Subscribe to the ‘Deloitte Monday Briefing’ here.

Deloitte’s Christmas quiz

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