The Economics of Financial Markets aims to help students understand the role that financial markets play in the business environment. It also provides an understanding of the underlying institutions that either help financial markets work well or that interfere with the efficient performance of these markets. This course develops a series of applications of principles from finance and economics that explore the connection between financial markets and economy. In addition, it focuses on many public policy issues and examines how the most important players in financial markets, the central banks, operate, how monetary policy is conducted, and possible reforms of the international financial system.