Was playing Red Dead 2 and the gang comes into some Bonds. Apparently they’re worth money but idk how the gang gets a profit from it, or how bonds work in civilian life.
In: Economics
A bond is essentially a loan that you give to an entity — this could be a corporation, a government, whatever.
As part of that agreement, the entity promises to pay you a certain amount of interest every year for a certain number of years, at which point you get back the *face value* of the bond — what you paid for it. The paper bond symbolizes this promise, and it’s how it would be negotiated.
In the early 1900s, when RDR 2 is set, these would be “[bearer bonds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearer_bond)” — that is, whoever bears (possesses) the bond could claim payment. They were a lot like cash in that respect — you’d take the coupons to an authorized agent, and because you physically had them, you could redeem however much they were worth.
The gang would be able to take the bearer bonds and convert them for cash in exactly that way, and there would be no proof as to who rightfully owned them.
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