Includes indexes.

About the authors -- Preface -- Learning tools walkthrough -- Money and the financial system -- An introduction to money and the financial system -- Money and the payments system -- Interest rates, financial instruments, and financial markets -- Future value, present value, and interest rates -- Bonds, bond prices, and the determination of interest rates -- The risk and term structure of interest rates -- Stocks, stock markets, and market efficiency -- Derivatives: futures, options, and swaps -- Foreign exchange -- Financial institutions -- The economics of financial intermediation -- Depository institutions: banks and bank management -- Financial industry structure -- Regulating the financial system -- Central banks, monetary policy, and financial stability -- Central banks in the world today -- The structure of central banks: the federal reserve and the european central bank -- The central bank balance sheet and the money supply process -- Monetary policy: stabilizing the domestic economy -- Exchange-rate policy and the central bank -- Money growth, money demand, and modern monetary policy -- Output, inflation, and monetary policy -- Modern monetary policy and the challenges facing central bankers -- Glossary -- Photo credits -- Index.

By focusing on the big picture via core principles, the authors teach students the rationale for financial rules and institutional structure so that even when the financial system evolves, students' knowledge will not be out of date.