Financial Markets, Institutions, and Instruments

Stephen Owen, PhD Jim Brau, PhD, CFA, CFP

Finance has been called the language of business, and this resource helps students become fluent, whether they are finance majors or taking it for another reason. Written to be clear, concise, and easy to read, it starts with the six parts of the financial system, the principles of money and banking, and how money, income, and the Consumer Price Index are measured. Students then work through the time value of money, interest rates, and risk, and the instruments that keep markets running: bonds, equities, derivatives, options, and cryptocurrencies. They finish with international finance and foreign exchange, financial intermediation, and the structure of the financial industry, gaining the intuition behind how markets and institutions actually work.