A measure of microeconomic disequilibrium for households facing both budget and quantity constraints is estimated from East data. Using a new specification, the Flexible-Cobb-Douglas utility function, the parameters of a German direct utility function are estimated from West family budgets. It is estimated that an average East family in 1977 would have been willing to give up 13% of its total expenditure in order to attain its demands at official prices.

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An unemployment rate for the urban population living in the European U.S.S.R. for the late 1970s is calculated from a survey of 2, 793 former Sovi et citizens residing in the United States. Patterns of unemployment i ncidence, frequency of multiple spells, and unemployment duration by demographic characteristics are compared with U.S. patterns. In contr ast, similar unemployment rates for Soviet men and women, and a posit ive relation between education and unemployment, are found. The Sovie t unemployment rate is low compared to Western rates for the 1970s, b ut has been matched by West Germany and Japan in high-employment year s.