Gathering a set of roughly compatible statistics for the costs and incomes of performing arts organizations in the then USSR and the USA, this paper provides a summary and analysis of that data. It is found that there is a considerable difference between the very high share of income earned at the box office by musical performances in the USSR compared to the USA. In addition, artistics salaries make a far smaller share of total musical costs in the USSR then in the USA, although its share in the USA is declining. Both government and private sources, as shares of total income, were similar in 1975 but the proportion in the USSR grew considerably since then. With respect to expenses, artistic salaries were consistently higher in the USSR. But even more striking is that administrative salaries in theater in the USA were more than three times as high, as a share of total expenses, compared to the USSR. With respect to music, the disparity was even greater. Further, performance costs iun both countries have increased substantially faster than the rate of inflation. The cost disease has, however, been more acute in USA.