Hiram Phillips, a civil servant of long experience in both the United States and Latin America, gives us this useful and pragmatic book. As page headings tell us, this is more than an abstract guide; it is a handbook, well organized for reference.

Phillips uses a specialized rather than an omnibus definition of “institutions,” but one particularly appropriate for development analysis; and he organizes his book into a theoretical section and case studies. In the author’s words: “Stress is placed on the importance of institutions because development simply cannot be achieved without them.”

Anyone interested in the pragmatic process of development—foreign advisor or local leader, economist or engineer—might well use this book. The case study of Chile’s tax reform should be of specific interest to Latin Americanists.