The current approach to control corruption is costly and insufficient. UCEx’s evidence-based, cost-effective innovation builds upon current rules and institutions, using a behavioral perspective to understand and fight dishonesty:

1) At the same time, honesty is regulated by the maximization of individual utility and the need to preserve an honest self-concept.

2) It is easier to cheat when individuals cheat “a little” and can rationalize it, and when the impact of dishonesty is not direct, like taking a gift instead of money.

3) The human mental bandwidth is limited and can result in a “blind spot” where lack of awareness facilitates dishonesty.

4) Individuals tend to cheat more when it seems socially acceptable in their groups and contexts.

UCEx proved that behaviorally-informed messages increased officials’ compliance. It is a first step towards controlling more complex types of corruption and these behavioral insights are being applied in interventions with other institutions.

We could already measure the effect of behaviorally informed messages. Currently, recommendations resulted from the intervention are used within the MPS, like improvements to the process of reception of gifts and to the filling of simpler formats. Right now, UCEx is applying behavioral insights to increase honesty and compliance with the law within National Security institutions and one of the most important private companies in Mexico. This intervention can also be the basis of future qualitative and quantitative research and public policies aimed to tackle public servants unethical acts.

UCEx brought the research work, necessary to design the behaviorally informed field experiment, implement it, and to evaluate the results obtained

The Ministry of Public Service provided support and guidance, as well as the databases with public servants data, all necessary for the design and implementation

The Public Service Officials across all the federal agencies were subject of the intervention and their voluntary collaboration was fundamental attain the results

Public servants can behave more ethically thanks to the reduction of cognitive barriers they face, systematization of information, and simplification of processes. The MPS now has a new perspective to approach unethical behavior and learned about the importance of experimenting in policy making and cooperating hand-in-hand with an academic institution. UCEx main goal is to improve individual’s lives and this was a unique opportunity to create cost-effective and impactful solutions for corruption.

The number of individuals reporting gifts was higher in every treatment group than in the control group (which number was zero). The total of gifts reported was 438, and, although it was smaller than the previous year (445), the total number of individuals reporting gifts, the main outcome, was higher (22 v. 72).The message 1, Appealing to the importance of law compliance, had the bigger impact in the main outcome (17 of 72 public servants reporting) and in all other three complementary outcomes: number of gifts reported (99 out of 438), the total amount of the gifts reported (16,000 USD of 28,919 USD), and the total number of emails replying to the original messages (82 out of 270). This means that, usually, public servants do not report the gifts they receive out of ignorance and not a selfish, deliberate decision-making process. We learned that simple reminders about the law have an important effect and that there are corruption-related problems with unexpectedly simple solution

It was also challenging to find a strategic ally within the government that would be willing to support the research, cooperate, and implement the recommendations resulted from the study.

There were complications in putting together a reliable database that comprised the information of all the 157,586 public servants in the federal government, since the Ministry of Public Service did not have a unique database, but multiple databases from different institutions.

Technology also fails sometimes and the automatic service to send the total of 998,030, presented some problems that limited obtaining reliable results to measure the effect of frequency of emails received on the total number of officials reporting gifts. This implied that the initial methodology had to be adapted.

Strategic ally inside the government: Cooperation by the head of the offices involved in the intervention

A complete, up-to-date record of public officials information (ID, names, emails)

A legal requirement for public officials to report and delivery gifts to the authorities

Technology to send and manage the amount of emails necessary for the intervention

The necessary, rigorous research on behavioral economics-behavioral sciences to inform alternative solutions to a problem like corruption

An applied-research unit that believes in the importance of designing solutions for public problems and with institutional liaison capabilities to form solid alliances with government institutions

Sponsorship to make any necessary assessment of the contexts and conditions where the intervention will be placed

The public need and commitment to control corruption

This intervention has the potential to become a national public policy for different subjects because of its efficacy and cost-effectiveness. UCEx aims to repeat the exercise using only the messages that proved to be more successful in the federal government context and can explore the replication of the experiment in other levels of government (state or municipal), other public institutions, like some related to National Security, and in one of the most important private companies in Mexico. This, to find ways to increase ethical behavior in multiple contexts and continue the path towards controlling corruption in wider, more complex environments.

One of the most inspiring lessons was to learn that it is actually possible to innovate within the public sector, usually one of the hardest areas to propose and implement new ways to do the job. The alliance between innovative laboratories and public or private institutions can lead us to have a better understanding and improve the lives of a wider number of people. In the process, everybody learns and the potential for future cooperation increases. This is an alternative to the usual implementation of policies: by experimenting, we can pilot a policy first, go back, tweak it, and maybe try it again before extensively implementing it. We showed this to the government institutions and it opened the door for future similar interventions. In the words of behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan, “[e]xperimentation is an act of humility, an acknowledgment that there is simply no way of knowing without trying something different.”

We could understand the power of behavioral sciences to contribute with useful insights that could help us solve multiple interrelated problems in different countries, such as corruption, poverty, and crime. This intervention helped us comprehend dishonesty from a perspective that reduces the stigma attached to corruption matters and individuals behaving unethically. Turns out, these behaviors may not be rooted in a selfish and corrupt nature or in malicious intentions. They may be rooted in cognitive barriers that public officials face in order to comply with the law.

The process was not EAST: Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely (term created by the Behavioral Insights Team in the UK) and, therefore, it was very unlikely that the public officials were going to comply. After simplifying the process, making it socially acceptable, and giving timely reminders, the number of officials reporting gifts increased. And it only took some carefully designed messages sent through an email. Small changes can have great, significant effects.

At UCEx, we are currently applying behavioral insights to promote honesty and ethical behavior within National Security institutions and within one of the most influential private companies in Mexico.

UCEx is also currently working on other pressing issues for Mexico and Latin America, such as gender discrimination. In a partnership with the World Bank, we are exploring alternative ways to increase the participation of indigenous women living in disadvantaged rural areas in programs that aim to foster environmentally sustainable productive activities.

Also, we are looking forward to forming new alliances world wide to continue with our mission of applying behavioral sciences for the betterment of people’s lives. We know that the OECD can be a great platform to enhance our capabilities of impact and to match our mission with other potential allies that share it and want to nudge for the good with us.