Heise, Michael, (2016), “The Unavoidable Costs of Helicopter Money”, Project Syndicate, 2 September
The long-running debate about the advisability of so-called helicopter money has changed shape, as new ideas emerge about the form it could take – and questions arise about whether it is already being dropped on some economies. What hasn’t changed is that embracing helicopter money would be a very bad idea. According to the conventional view, helicopter money is newly printed cash that the central bank doles out, without booking corresponding assets or claims on its balance sheet. It can come in the form of cash transfers to the public or as the monetization of government debt; in both cases, it is a permanent loss for the central bank.
Relevant Posts
- Cecchetti, Stephen, Schoenholtz, Kim, (2016), “A primer on helicopter money”, Voxeu, 19 Αugust
- Muellbauer, John, (2016), “Helicopter money and fiscal rules”, Voxeu, 10 June