This book provides answers to these questions by examining how financial markets (such as those for bonds, stocks, and foreign exchange) and financial institutions (banks, insurance companies mutual funds, and other institutions) work. Financial markets and institutions not only affect your everyday life but also involve huge flows of funds—trillions of dollars—throughout our economy, which in turn affect business profits, the production of goods and services, and even the economic well-being of countries other than the United States. What happens to financial markets and institutions is of great concern to politicians and can even have a major impact on elections. The study of financial markets and institutions will reward you with an understanding of many exciting issues. In this chapter we provide a road map of the book by outlining these exciting issues and exploring why they are worth studying.

这本书通过研究金融市场（如债券、股票和外汇市场）和金融机构（银行、保险公司、共同基金和其他机构）如何运作来回答这些问题。金融市场和金融机构不仅影响到你的日常生活，而且涉及到我们整个经济体中数万亿美元的巨额资金流动，进而影响商业利润、商品和服务的生产，甚至影响美国以外国家的经济福祉。金融市场和金融机构的状况令政界人士极为关注，甚至可能对选举产生重大影响。对金融市场和金融机构的研究将使你对许多令人兴奋的问题有一个了解。在这一章中，我们通过概述这些令人兴奋的问题并探究为什么它们值得研究来提供一个本书的路线图。