Publications & Documents

“Behavioural insights”, or insights derived from the behavioural and social sciences, including decision making, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, organisational and group behaviour, are being applied by governments with the aim of making public policies work better. As their use has become more widespread, however, questions are being raised about their effectiveness as well as their philosophical underpinnings. This report discusses the use and reach of behavioural insights, drawing on a comprehensive collection of over 100 applications across the world and policy sectors, including consumer protection, education, energy, environment, finance, health and safety, labour market policies, public service delivery, taxes and telecommunications. It suggests ways to ensure that this experimental approach can be successfully and sustainably used as a public policy tool.

As “market referees”, regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public utilities. The internal and external governance of regulatory agencies are essential to determining how regulators and the sectors they oversee perform. The OECD has developed an innovative framework that looks at the institutions, processes and practices that can enhance regulators’ performance. In this report, the framework is applied to the external governance of Mexico’s energy sector and its three regulatory bodies, the Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (ASEA), the National Hydrocarbons Commissions (CNH) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), following a structural reform of the sector and its regulatory institutions. The review offers insights into the progress and challenges in the implementation of the reform, highlighting the importance of structured co-ordination and accountability mechanisms based on a common strategic agenda, alignment of processes for good regulatory outcomes as well as sufficient operational flexibility. The report is complemented by forthcoming reviews of the internal governance arrangements of the three regulatory agencies, constituting a comprehensive body of work on the regulatory governance of Mexico’s energy sector.
 

This publication identifies the main regulatory obstacles of the following transport sectors in Mexico: road transport, railways, ports, border crossing, and airway passengers. The report also offers recommendations to improve the quality of the regulatory framework of these sectors.