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Helicopter Money: The time is now (Galí)

Helicopter Money: the time is now by Jordi Galí published by VoxEU (3/2020).

“The rapid spread of the coronavirus in many countries constitutes a major challenge to their health systems. Under all realistic scenarios, an overwhelming number of human lives will be lost, partly as a result of the inability to provide proper intensive care to all patients that need it. This has led many governments to attempt to slow down the rate of infection through a number of measures, including home confinement, travel restrictions, closing of restaurants and theatres, suspension of sports events, and so on.

Those measures, while necessary, are bound to have a direct impact on the economy, operating through different channels.

  • First, they will have a direct effect on production and sales in many sectors, where activity will collapse partly or completely during the emergency, either as a result of supply disruption (due to the unavailability of inputs, labour or otherwise) or a fall in demand (due to the forced change in consumption patterns resulting from health-related measures).

A direct loss of GDP is thus unavoidable, given the path of action required to contain the spread of the virus. And if prolonged by more than one or two months, it is bound to result in a cumulative loss of output similar to or larger than that experienced during the last financial crisis.

That direct loss of GDP, which will be largely reflected in a decline in the consumption of goods and services during the health crisis, will be painful but relatively bearable. Unfortunately, that direct cost may be amplified by the presence of indirect effects if the fall in output leads to a significant reduction in employment (with the consequent loss of income and consumption). Alternatively, firms may try to keep their payroll unchanged and keep meeting other fixed expenses (e.g. rent, interest) during the inactivity period, by taking loans from banks. But banks may be reluctant to extend those loans, given the probability of default and the likely deterioration underway in their balance sheets. In the case banks went ahead and provided that additional funding, the resulting increase in firms’ indebtedness would weaken their balance sheets permanently and may cause – sooner or later – a wave of bankruptcies or, in the best case, a highly deteriorated balance sheet…”

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