helicopter money

noun

Money that is created and dispersed by the central bank.

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Meanings

nounhelicopter money (uncountable)
  1. uncountableMoney that is created and dispersed by the central bank.

    Money is endogenous and not exogenous money (represented by the usual textbook assumption of 'helicopter money').

    2006, Philip Arestis, Malcolm C. Sawyer, A Handbook of Alternative Monetary Economics, page ix
    2 more examples

    A more fundamental defect in the argument that helicopter money will always resuscitate the economy is that it focuses exclusively on the logic of buyers while totally ignoring the logic of sellers.

    2018, Richard C. Koo, The Other Half of Macroeconomics and the Fate of Globalization

    In contrast to the case of QE, people might expect the increase in the monetary base to be permanent with helicopter money.

    2019, Jin Cao, Gerhard Illing, Money: Theory and Practice, page 273

Origin

Coined by Milton Friedman in 1969 using the metaphor of money being dropped from the sky (out of nowhere).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

helicopter money. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/helicopter%20money

MLA

“helicopter money.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/helicopter%20money. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “helicopter money,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/helicopter%20money.

Source: helicopter money on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.