This text contains the strengths of the authors' money and banking text: they bring in a historical and evolutionary perspective, provide a global emphasis where appropriate, and cover all the topics common to traditional markets and institutions texts. In addition, they emphasize a flow-of-funds perspective and the text ends with a section on monetary policy. The text provides balanced coverage of the theories, policies, and institutions in a conversational style, avoiding complex models and high level mathematics, making it a student-friendly text with many unique features that offer additional explanation of concepts, analyses, and historical background. The text emphasizes how structural change, globalization, innovation, and technology affect the financial environment, with attention to how and why institutions and markets evolve.