This is a short, inexpensive textbook that teaches students the fundamentals of money and banking in a clear, narrative form.

Part I. Introduction to the Financial and Monetary Regime: 1. The financial and monetary regime; 2. Basic concepts regarding money; Part II. The Financial System Component of the Financial and Monetary Regime: 3. The financial system and the country's flow of funds; 4. Interest rates in the financial system; 5. The level of interest rates; 6. The structure of interest rates; 7. International dimensions of the financial system; Part III. The Role of Government in the Financial and Monetary Regime: 8. The basic roles of government in the financial and monetary regime; 9. Regulation and supervision of the financial system; 10. A short history of the US financial and monetary regime in action; Part IV. Five Steps to Understanding Central Banks and Central Bank Policy: 11. The five steps and step 1 - the institutional design of the central bank; 12. Central banks, base money and the money supply; 13. Step 2 - tools of monetary policy and step 3 - monetary policy instruments; 14. Step 4 - the central bank model of the economy; 15. Step 5 - final policy targets; 16. Monetary policy tactics, strategy and rules versus discretion; Part V. Performance of the US financial and monetary regime: 17. Four important periods in the US financial and monetary regime.