Detrimental myths of socio-economic harm of trade unions
The article states that the general economics and labor economics courses at Russian higher educational institutions, both «cloning» western samples and claiming to originality, invariably contain versions of trade union influence on labor market, far from actual processes and even distorting them. Accordingly, an attempt is made to identify discrepancies between the consequences of trade union activities in neoclassical models (textbooks exposing them) and in real life. In that context, the author scrutinizes the myths of trade unions as a factor of rising unemployment and inflation, shows as to how the relevant theoretical premises are used for substantiation of measures of social (antisocial, to be more correct) policy, and traces the evolution of demands on the part of foreign and Russian trade unions. According to the substantiated summary, there is need for revision of the discourse relative to the absolutely negative results of trade union activities for economy and social sphere.