Until recently, students of international political economy tended to discount the role of ideas in economic policy making. This impressive collection of essays breaks new ground in exploring how personal cognition, in the form of "shared mental models," can help shape perceptions of interest and policy choices. The focus is on the spread of "neo-liberal" market-oriented reforms around the globe in the 1980s and 1990s. The essays convincingly demonstrate that even when a common idea is shared, divergent social and political contexts can produce strikingly diverse outcomes. Political scientists and economists alike will learn much from the volume's insightful analysis.-Benjamin J. CohenThe book is divided into two parts, addressing conceptual analysis of shared mental models and neoliberalism and then turning to national and regional experiments with the ideas and practices of neoliberalism. I found both sections useful, though in different ways. The conceptual section, taking up topics such as macroeconomics, price changes, and the origins of neoliberalism, provides useful background. And then the country and regional studies provide a very comprehensive sample of the experience with neoliberalism, and some theories on why it has had more success in some nations rather than others. By any standard, this is a very significant and ambitious book. - Michael C. Munger, Public Choice