Publications
Picault, J. (2025), Authentic Group Projects for Upper-Level Economics Courses, Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, Forthcoming
This article describes a method to introduce authentic group projects in upper-level economics courses. Such projects allow students to reflect and solidify their learning of the key economics concepts developed in a course and to experience the benefits inherent to authentic assessment, such as increased autonomy and depth of learning and development of the abilities needed in the workplace (Villarroel et al., 2018). Also, authentic group projects demonstrate to students that economics is a highly practical social science. These projects invite students to act as representatives with the goal of convincing a government official that their chosen issue warrants government intervention. These term projects require students to follow a scaffolded process designed to separate the more objective from the more subjective steps, both of which are essential to the project's quality. Instructors can use such projects in many upper-level courses.
Picault, J. (2025), Learning by experimenting: An introductory course on experimental economics, Journal of Economic Education, Forthcoming.
This article describes an upper-level economics course in which students are introduced to experimental economics. The course has two main objectives: (1) to solidify students’ learning of key economic concepts and (2) to introduce students to experimental economics and experimental design. The course is built around a term-long project that requires students to develop their own experiments in small groups. It follows a scaffolded sequence of activities designed to help students create an experiment while solidifying their learning of economic concepts. The scaffolded process has four objectives: (1) learning about experimental design and its challenges, (2) practicing with experiments as a subject, (3) practicing with experiments as an experimenter, and (4) developing an experiment. The participatory nature of the course allows students to learn from their interactions with both the instructor and their peers. Furthermore, students must use the theoretical knowledge accumulated in previous economic courses while interacting with other students during the experimental sessions.
Ben Abdesslem, A., Picault J., and Tudose E. A. (2025), Teaching Economics with Netflix, Journal of Economic Education 56 (3), 264-265.
The Econetflix website offers a curated collection of teachable clips from Netflix Originals, including series, movies, and documentaries, with corresponding teaching materials. These clips cover a wide range of economics concepts for principles of economics and upper-level undergraduate courses. Following Al-Bahrani's (2022) suggestion, the materials emphasize diverse geographical, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. Building on Ben Abdesslem and Picault (2023a, 2023b), Econetflix provides double the material of the original articles, with regular updates and enhanced accessibility. Unlike other resources, Econetflix focuses solely on Netflix content, utilizing its global reach and popularity to create inclusive and diverse educational tools. See: https://econetflix.com/
Media Coverage: Castanet Ça m'intéresse Netflix Junkie MSN
Islam, K.J., and Picault, J. (2025), From Balances to Behaviors: Insights into Credit Card Repayment Patterns among Canadian Households, International Journal of Bank Marketing 43 (7), 1468-1488.
This study investigates the credit card repayment behaviors of Canadian households, identifying factors affecting balance carrying, payment making, and repayment delays. The study uses data from five waves of the Survey of Financial Security (SFS) spanning 1999 to 2019. Simple and multinomial probit models are employed to estimate the likelihood of balance carrying, skipping or delaying payments, and other repayment behavior among Canadian credit card users. One-third of Canadian credit card users carry balances, with over two-thirds skipping or delaying payments due to financial difficulties. Younger female-headed households with larger families are less likely to pay off monthly balances. Education significantly impacts repayment behavior, with heads holding a university degree about 13% more likely to pay off balances and 19% less likely to skip or delay payments than those without a high school diploma. Higher debt burdens and costly loans negatively affect repayments. Households with a mortgage are more likely to make payments below the minimum than outright homeowners. In 2019, payday loan borrowers were 25% less likely to pay off balances and 28% more likely to skip or delay payments than non-borrowers. Owning liquid financial assets, such as stocks and savings, enhances repayment likelihood. Households expecting worse future financial conditions are more likely to pay off balances. Financial education and access to affordable credit could improve repayment behaviors. This study provides new insights into the determinants of credit card repayment behavior in Canadian households, offering evidence on the role of education, debt burden, and access to affordable credit in shaping repayment outcomes. By examining these dynamics over two decades, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of household financial behavior and potential policy interventions.
Media Coverage: Castanet Vernon Matters
Islam, K.J., and Picault, J. (2025), One Card Fits All? Exploring the Incidence, Intensity, and Extent of Credit Card Use in Canada (1999-2019), Journal of Financial Services Marketing 30, 5.
The effects of credit card usage on well-being depend on factors determining its usage, repayment habits, and responsible utilization. Although international literature extensively covers credit card usage, a notable gap exists in Canadian research, where no comprehensive analysis of credit card debt with a representative Canadian sample has been conducted over an extended period. This study utilizes Statistics Canada’s Survey of Financial Security to investigate the determinants of the incidence, intensity, and extent of credit card usage between 1999 and 2019. Education, income, and assets are identified as significant determinants, with their impact evolving over time. Most Canadian households hold one or two credit cards, while family budgeting, financial expectations, stock market investment, and bank savings are significantly associated with usage intensity. Regional disparities exist, with certain provinces exhibiting higher credit card usage. Average credit card debt doubled between 1999 and 2019. Findings emphasize the need for comprehensive policy measures to promote responsible credit card usage, addressing income, gender, and regional disparities while prioritizing financial literacy, debt management resources, and strengthening credit card industry regulations.
Geerling, W., Mateer, G. D., and Picault, J. (2024), Extreme Pricing Goes Viral: Lessons for Teaching Price Controls, Journal for Economic Educators 24 (1), 27-43.
Price controls are a popular topic among students. However, the effects of implementing price controls are not as straightforward as students typically expect, especially the unintended consequences that students tend to overlook. This paper provides three teaching guides designed to teach price controls which can be easily implemented in an introductory-level economics course. We build on the work of Geerling et al. (2023c) by using short-form viral videos from popular platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, which match the streaming and content medium of choice for Gen Z. The use of celebrities and social media influencers make abstract teaching moments more relatable to students. As such, this paper offers a unique opportunity for creatively teaching economics to a new generation of students.
Ben Abdesslem, A. and Picault, J. (2023), Using Netflix Original Series to Teach Economics: a Diversity and Inclusion Approach, International Review of Economics Education 44, 100278.
Using pop culture to illustrate economics concepts is a growing trend among economics instructors. This paper embraces this trend and contributes by exploring the opportunities that using video clips from Netflix Originals series provides to economics instructors. We created lecture plans based on 12 Netflix Originals series allowing instructors to illustrate more than 25 economics concepts presented in principles of economics courses. The shows listed in this paper are from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Therefore, this paper's lecture plans allow students to learn a wide range of concepts using series from various parts of the world. Besides geographical diversity, our resources enable instructors to expose students to multiple forms of diversity such as languages, cultural, ethnic, and sexual diversities.
Media coverage: The Link
Picault, J. (2023), A Strategic Approach to Managerial Compliance With Equal Pay Policies, SN Business & Economics 3 (8), 147
This study used relevant literature and data from the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission to identify factors that can explain managerial non-compliance with equal pay policies and then assessed their effects on policy effectiveness. A model was constructed to investigate the strategic nature of managerial decisions as well as government policies, court procedures, and worker behavior. Theoretically, legal framework and certain non-management actors may increase reluctance toward compliance. In this study, an incentive constraint was used to represent managerial compliance decisions. In sum, policy success significantly depends on at least five factors: (1) compensation, (2) court effectiveness, (3) monitoring, (4) worker behavior, and (5) coordination. This study also assessed the impacts of the recent trend of pay transparency efforts in relation to the factors. It found that pay transparency cannot be the only response by legislators. Rather, it should be coupled with more robust policy responses and better calibration, acknowledging managers' strategic behaviors and tendency to evade inadequately calibrated regulations.
Ben Abdesslem, A. and Picault J. (2023), Bounty Hunters Can Teach Microeconomics: Illustrations from Netflix's Cowboy Bebop, Eastern Economic Journal, 49 (3), 349–367.
Economics instructors often seek new content to improve student engagement and motivation. The Netflix Original series Cowboy Bebop provides an additional option to instructors. The TV show offers excellent examples of microeconomics concepts (e.g., opportunity cost, price elasticity of demand). It also reinforces diversity and inclusion, thanks to its diverse cast, Japanese origins, and imaginary society where various cultures and languages coexist symbiotically. The short clips can be used during lectures, face-to-face, and synchronous or asynchronous online sessions. They can also facilitate engaging discussions and assignments, as each clip is provided with teaching material, including concept-related questions.
Picault, J. (2022), Inventories in GDP: A Classroom Learning Strategy, Journal for Economic Educators 22(2), 16-21.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a component of macroeconomics courses that is widely used by economists and the society alike. However, many students find it difficult to understand what GDP encompasses. The understanding of the concept can be facilitated by a tool that explains the specific spending categories in the GDP identity. This study presents a teaching strategy and tool to facilitate students' learning of the role of inventories in the GDP and how inventories can be used concurrently with other spending categories, that is, Consumption (C), Investment (I), Government Expenditure (G), and Net Exports (NX). It presents four scenarios in which inventories are used as a corrective mechanism to solve the temporal problem that the good produced in one year and sold in another create. By using this tool, the students can quickly and fully understand the role of inventories in GDP calculations.
Picault, J. (2021), Structure, Flexibility, and Consistency – A Dynamic Learning Approach for an Online Asynchronous Course, Applied Economics Teaching Resources 3 (4), 30-43.
COVID-19 forced many instructors to migrate their practice online and created a need to develop a new online teaching model. This paper proposes an online asynchronous model specifically designed for an economics course. It was created with three objectives: consistency, structure, and flexibility. The teaching model builds on Learning Management Systems (LMS)'s basic capabilities to create a clear learning path for students. This teaching model delivers theoretical and practical knowledge and describes the instructor's key role even though the teaching model is asynchronous. It embraces strategies to reduce social isolation which arises from online asynchronous teaching models.
Picault, J. (2021), Looking for Innovative Pedagogy? An Online Economics Instructor’s Toolbox, Journal of Economic Education 52 (2), 174.
See https://www.theecontoolbox.com/
Picault, J. (2021), Don’t Just Read the News, Write the News! – A Course about Writing Economics for the Media, Journal of Economic Education 52 (2), 114-127.
This paper describes an upper-level economics course where students learn to write economic news articles, which improves communication and audience-targeting skills. The course was created in partnership with a media outlet and designed around authentic assessments to provide students with a genuine experience based on academic and journalistic standards. The interactive nature of the course allows students to benefits from workshops, one-on-one discussions, and peer-learning. Articles target a general audience and must convincingly address a piece of economic news. Students must apply the theoretical knowledge accumulated in preceding economics courses to analyze and explain real-world situations. If students can meet the media partner’s standards, they are offered the opportunity to publish their articles.
Picault, J. (2020), Patent vs. Open Source: A Classroom Activity Using Texas Hold’em Poker, International Journal of Management Education 18 (2), 100389. - Link to article
This classroom experiment introduces students to the various incentives that influence private companies when they invest in technology, including investments that only benefit the investing company (patent) and investments benefiting all companies (open source). The game Texas Hold’em Poker is used to simulate this competitive investing. All players have access to the flop; however, access to the turn and the river will only be granted after one-time investments. When the technology is patent-protected, the turn and the river will be accessible only to the companies that have invested. When the technology is open source, the turn and the river become available to all companies so long as at least one company has invested.
Picault, J. (2019), The Economics Instructor’s Toolbox, International Review of Economics Education 30, 100154. - Link to article - International Review of Economics Education Best Paper Award for 2020.
Although seminal literature indicates that “chalk and talk” is still the predominant lecture method (Watts & Becker (2008), Watts & Schaur (2011) and Ongeri (2017)), research more specific to millennials (Carrasco-Gallego (2017), Leinberger (2015), Litzenberg (2010) and Morreale & Staley (2016)) indicates multiple challenges for economics instructors who are teaching millennials; it suggests instructors need to adapt their teaching methods. They especially point out that millennials have a different skillset than previous student cohorts. Recently, multiple new teaching methods have been proposed in the economics literature. This paper reviews and discusses the most effective teaching methods specifically targeting millennials. New teaching methods clearly focus on the inclusion of popular culture and media, which are already a salient part of the day-to-day life of students. Improving students’ engagement appears to be a paramount objective in the recent literature. Examples of methods reviewed in this papers are flipped classroom, student-crafted economics experiments, and the use of social media as a medium of instruction.
Media Coverage: Inomics
Picault, J. (2017), Risk-Averse Managers, Labour Market Structures, Public Policies and Discrimination, B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics 17 (1). - Link to article.
This article presents a model to analyze the effects of first and second-moment statistical discrimination on the labour market. Second-moment statistical discrimination occurs when risk-averse managers make decisions regarding wage and hiring based on productivity variances. We provide a framework exploring managers discrimination based on differences in average productivity and in variance of productivity. Furthermore, since discrimination is composed of two types (wage and hiring discrimination), our model allows for the interdependence between hiring practices and wages. Using our model, we examine the effects of various anti-discrimination policies along with changes to the labour market structure. We show that managers behaviour may be driven by anti-discrimination policies and labour market structures. A firm reduces hiring when required to implement anti-discrimination policies to address wage inequality. A firm applying policies to promote employment equity must stimulate minority participation. A change in labour market structure does not alter the efficiency of policies promoting employment equity, but it does alter the efficiency of policies aimed at reducing wage differences.
Yang, F., Huang, S. and Picault, J. (2017), Is China's Demographic Dividend Over, Shandong Social Science 260 (4), 82-89. - In Chinese - Link to article.
After more than 30 years of rapid growth, China's economic growth has slowed down. China's Lewis turning point does not seem to be attained, although the unlimited supply of workers is no longer a major driver of China's economic growth. In this paper, we redefine the concept of demographic dividend by combining the various definitions existing in the literature. Based on the existing data analysis about China's demographic dividend, we build a conceptual model for the dynamic change of the demographic dividend. We, then, use our model to predict the end of China's demographic dividend. China's demographic dividend still exists but is declining. Our model predicts its end in 2035.
Picault, J. (2016), Inconsistencies in Textbook Presentation of Substitution and Income Effects, International Journal of Teaching and Education 4 (3), 7 - 15. - Link to article
Labour economics textbooks present inconsistent methods for determining substitution and income effects. Hicks (1939) and Samuelson (1953) developed two different methods separating substitution and income effects. While both methods result in the same conclusion regarding the direction of the effects, they differ on magnitude of the effects. Furthermore, economics instructors are typically unaware of the inconsistency in labour economics textbooks, causing them to consider students’ answers as incorrect when they may not be. This paper advocates for the selection of a standard approach in labour economics instruction, and acknowledges that these different methods are currently a source of confusion for students.
Picault, J. (2015), Introduction to Strategic Interactions, Duopolies and Collusion: A Classroom Experiment, Australasian Journal of Economics Education 12 (2), 12 - 29. - Link to article
This classroom experiment introduces strategic interactions and collusion in an environment where two producers are interacting on a market. It introduces the three classic duopolies: Bertrand, Cournot and Stackelberg, as well as, comparing the effects of competing on a market versus colluding. The experiment is intended for use prior to presentation of the theoretical models; as it allows students to develop their understanding of duopolies during the game and compare it with the theory. The use of this experiment allows the instructor to present the intuition behind strategic interaction in an attractive manner and to dissociate intuition from any mathematical complexity.
Picault, J. (2013), Unionization and Labour-market Discrimination: A Closer Look at Non-unionized Workers, Labour 27 (3), 272–287. - Link to article
This paper introduces a model that examines the effects of unions on pay and hiring gaps between non-unionized men and women in the context of imperfect competition. Although the model does not question the advantages unions obtain for their members, it does show that (1) unions increase wage and occupational discrimination for non-unionized workers; (2) the non-unionized sector does not constitute a good comparison group for use in analysing the impact of unions on gender discrimination; and (3) public policies targeting gender differences in occupational sorting can also have a positive impact on gender wage differentials.