Political economy is not a new way of looking at Latin American development, but this handbook brings together and extends recent work that looks at new trends — democratic consolidation, macro stability, Asian trading partners — that earlier authors did not. Political economy is all about “trespassing” between economics and political science, according to A.O. Hirschman. This book draws upon a new type of trespassing — the academic expert who has also been a top policy maker (e.g. president, minister of finance). Many of this new breed contribute here, reflecting on the rough and tumble world of policy reform.