This means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the bond, it is highly liquid on the second market. Thus, a bond is a form of loan or IOU: the holder of the bond is the lender (creditor), the issuer of the bond is the borrower (debtor), and the coupon is the interest. Bonds provide the borrower with external funds to finance long-term investments, or, in the case of government bonds, to finance current expenditure.
Chamberlainâs monopolistic competition is the blending of competition and monopoly. The most distinguishing feature of monopolistic competition is that the products of various firms are not identical but different although they are close substitutes for each other.
The main kind of monopoly that is both persistent and not caused by the government is what economists call a ânaturalâ monopoly. A natural monopoly comes about due to economies of scale-that is, due to unit costs that fall as a firmâs production increases.