If 2016 was the year of political shocks, this could be the year we find how they'll affect the global economy. Bloomberg's Misery Index, which combines countries' 2017 inflation and unemployment outlooks, aims to show us just that.
For the third year in a row, Venezuela's economic and political problems make it the most miserable in the ranking. The least miserable country is once again Thailand, in large part due to its unique way of calculating employment. The rest of the index features noteworthy moves by the U.K., Poland and Mexico, to name a few.
Economic woes have plagued Venezuela for years. Sluggish prices for oil, the country's only significant export, have fueled a crisis that has left grocery store shelves empty, hospitals without basic medications and violent crime rampant as desperation leads to anger. While the country has not reported economic data since 2015, Bloomberg's Cafe Con Leche Index, which aims to track inflation via the cost of a cup of coffee, shows a price surge of 1,419% since mid-August. Economists estimate that prices will rise almost six-fold this year, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
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