Since the first behavioural insights (BI) unit in 2010, many BI teams have emerged around the world. While varying in missions, models, and methodologies, they share the common goal of enhancing our understanding ‘what makes people tick’ and how we might use this information for the betterment of policy and society. In 2017, the OECD published a first report on BI and Public Policy that presented data and insights from 60 pioneering BI units. Unsurprisingly,...
Global: Behavioural Insights
We are on the lookout for game-changing, freely available toolkits that can ignite innovative thinking and drive progress in governments worldwide. As the hosts of OECD Toolkit Navigator, one of the world’s largest compendia of public sector innovation toolkits, we’re excited to collaborate with you to identify fresh, forward-thinking resources to support governments and public servants in the design and delivery of better policies and services. Five minutes – that’s all it…
Publication
Misinformation and Disinformation: An international effort using behavioural science to tackle the…

Publication
Responsible by Design – Principles for the ethical use of behavioural science in government

Work Area
Behavioural Insights
At OPSI, we support the use of Behavioural Insights from policy design to implementation and evaluation. We have an empirical approach that includes research on context-specific behavioural drivers and barriers, systematically challenging our assumptions and rigorously testing interventions before scaling.

2021 was yet another busy year at OPSI! As the rate and complexity of global challenges increases, so does our work. In cooperation with partners and counterparts, we complete another successful year of leveraging our expertise in global trends, public sector innovation systems, transformative technology and innovation skills, processes and methods. We held over 50 workshops, webinars and events Issued 13 reports Published 46 blogs And held hundreds meetings to drive the point home: that...
A summary report of the Government Beyond Recovery conference, which brought together over 2000 participants to reflect on the importance of innovation, co-creation, agile regulation and inclusion as the world emerges from a period of crisis and prepares for the complex challenges ahead.
Cash transfers, recognized as one of the most effective tools in social protection, are expanding rapidly into the world’s poorest economies. As these programs support more of the world’s most vulnerable populations, they face growing demands to increase their effectiveness. Light touch interventions from behavioral science help make programs more adaptive to the psychological phenomena that influence beneficiaries’ decisions and actions and improve outcomes at little additional cost.
Virtual Conference – Government Beyond Recovery: Towards a future-fit public sector: 18-19 October 2021 As we hurry to buy plane tickets to the next tropical destination or catch the latest James Bond movie in theatres, the sudden and dramatic restrictions we all experienced in early 2020 can feel like a distant memory. In the early days of COVID-19, many of us reflected critically on the things that mattered most in our lives and work; committing...
Governments have increasingly adopted remote work due to COVID19. So far, there has been no comparative assessment of how teleworking has affected the public sector. The People in Government Lab, together with an international team of researchers from 12 universities is running a study in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and the United Kingdom to understand the organisational advantages of teleworking, and to evaluate how behavioural sciences can improve public employees’ wellbeing and performance