How do financial markets and institutions affect businesses and individuals? How do firms raise funds? How can an individual use markets and institutions to meet their own personal goals? In order to answer these questions, a reader must have a strong understanding of financial markets and institutions. This concise book provides the necessary information, presenting the general principles of finance and showing how they are applied in the field.

Ronald Melicher is a Professor of Finance and Chair of the Finance Division in the College of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is also a President's Teaching Scholar and the W. H. Baughn Distinguished Scholar. Dr. Melicher is currently in his 31st year of teaching at the University of Colorado.

Edgar Norton's teaching and research interests include investments, corporate finance, and entrepreneurial finance. His research has been published in a variety of finance, economic, and small business journals, including Financial Review nad the Journal of Business Research. A recipient of an Award of Excellence for a research paper at a conference sponsored by the International Council for Small Business, he was recognized in an article in the Journal of Management as one of the most productive entrepreneurship researchers of the early 1990s. He has co-authored four books.