Latin America and the Caribbean has seen remarkable socio-economic progress since the beginning of the century. The macroeconomic situation of individual countries has strengthened, living standards have improved, and poverty and inequality have declined. Yet large structural vulnerabilities remain and new ones have emerged. Many of these are linked to countries’ transition to higher income and development levels. The Latin American Economic Outlook 2019: Development in Transition (LEO 2019) presents a fresh analytical approach in the region. It assesses four development traps relating to productivity, social vulnerability, institutions and the environment. It outlines local opportunities for responding to those traps and seeks ways of improving global public goods to reinforce national agendas, all in the context of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. LEO 2019 calls for improving domestic capacities and adopting a new vision of international co-operation as a facilitator to support those efforts.