The volume opens with an overview of basic concepts in finance, or the study of how resources are valued, allocated, and invested over time. Business owners, corporate executives, government organizations, and the average person all benefit from understanding the time value of money, asset valuation, and risk management strategies. Economists often employ the use of game theory to predict and explain the strategic behavior of producers and consumers in the marketplace. Game theory can have many economic applications; as Marie Gould explains, there are numerous simple games that can illuminate how social norms influence behavior. Gould goes on to discuss the concept of contract theory, which studies how economic players can construct contractual arrangements. Michael P. Auerbach explains the Black-Scholes Method of Pricing, which was developed to reduce the uncertainty surrounding the potential return on hedging investments. Simone I. Flynn switches gears to describe managerial economics, or the way in which business managers apply relevant economic methods to their own decision-making processes. Keynesian economics and the theory of interest are then addressed in an essay by Auerbach, who aims to elucidate the application of Keynesian thought in a twenty-first century economic environment. Economic loss can arise from any number of misfortunes, but various insurances help to distribute the risk of financial loss. Life insurance is just one form of insurance protection that provides financial assurance from loss associated with life and death. Seth M. Azria discusses the general theory of life insurance and how it relates to an individual’s finances and the national economy. Francis Duffy moves on to review the economic philosophy of monetary theory and the major economic causes that shape and determine the demand for currency.