The Swedish Bond Market, 1835–2020

Bonds play a major role in government and corporate finance and have done so for several centuries. The bond market consists of two parts. In the primary bond market, states, local governments and private-sector institutions issue bonds to finance their investments and other activities. In the secondary bond market, investors exchange bonds and set market prices that guide the pricing of stocks and bank loans and work as vehicles for facilitating the issuance of new bond loans.