This book integrates the fundamentals of monetary theory, monetary policy theory and financial market theory, providing an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the many-sided interrelations between these fields of research. It provides the reader with the intellectual groundwork indispensable for understanding the workings and interactions of today's globalised financial markets. The topics addressed in this book include, inter alia, alternative money supply regimes, money demand functions, monetary policy transmission, monetary policy effectiveness and the natural rate of unemployment, monetary political business cycles, and monetary policy strategies. Basic valuation models for stocks, and bonds and asset price linkages across currency areas are covered as well. Illustrated by carefully chosen examples and supported by extensive data analyses, this book is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview about the ever-expanding theoretical and quantitative fields of monetary and financial economics.

Ansgar Belke, 1965, is Full Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Campus Essen) since April 2007. Until March 2007, he was Full Professor of International Economics at the University of Hohenheim, Germany since August 2001, and Full Professor at the University of Vienna from 2000 to 2001. He is a member of the "Monetary Experts Panel" of the European Parliament, serves as editor-in-chief of "Kredit & Kapital" and as co-editor of a couple of other journals. He published widely in international refereed journals. Thorsten Polleit, 1967, is Honorary Professor for economics at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany. He is a member of the Friedrich August von Hayek Society and an Adjunct Scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, US Alabama. His research interests are monetary economics, capital market theory, and the Austrian School of Economics.

Introduction.- Money and credit supply.- Money and credit demand.- The interest rate.- Financial market asset pricing.- The monetary view of the exchange rate.- Causes, costs and benefits of stable money.- Monetary policy theory.- Transmission mechanisms.- Monetary policy strategies.- Monetary open-economy macroeconomics.