We started the book by discussing four perspectives – firms, individuals, financial intermediaries, and governments. Firms need to raise money (the financing decision) and need to spend this money (the investment decision). Individuals need to find investments to give them the highest possible return for the minimum amount of risk. They also need to be sure that managers will not simply steal the capital that they receive as stewards of the firm. Intermediaries need to match borrowers (the firms) with the lenders (the investors). Finally, governments need to make sure that the process is fair. They also need to make sure that there are no damaging externalities – for instance, that actions taken by one group of people do not cause the whole system to blow up.