Hard to compare exchange rates like that, especially for the Soviet ruble. One way to look at it is buying power equivalence. I found some sources for the 198

Hard to compare exchange rates like that, especially for the Soviet ruble. One way to look at it is buying power equivalence. I found some sources for the 1980s in the USSR that give typical household incomes in the range of about 75 - 300 rubles per month. That gives some sense for the cost for the average person. Around a month's wages, give or take. Of course, prices can be misleading in a command economy. One might simply not have been able to buy it at the official price, and either waited and waited, or went black/grey market. Source: http://www.roiw.org/1993/23.pdf http://www.roiw.org/1993/23.pdf "INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S.S.R. IN THE 1980S"