Financial Markets & Institutions

Departing from the traditional approach of other works, this text avoids rote memorization of institutional detail through the use of a unifying analytical framework that helps students not only to make sense of the financial system, with a particular emphasis on the States, but also shows them how financial institutions affect, and are affected by, the state of the economy. To help organize student's thinking, this framework employs a few basic principles, including a simple approach to portfolio choice, an asset market approach to understanding behaviour in financial markets, the theory of efficient capital markets, a transactions cost and asymetric information approach to financial structure, measurement and management of interest rate risk and aggregate supply and demand analysis. Models are then used to apply these principles to aid understanding of the current operation of financial institutions and markets and how these institutions and markets might respond to future changes in the economic regulatory movement. Adopting a managerial focus, this text contains approximately 40 major applications.