Important to understand the differences between pure quantitative easing and helicopter money

Pure quantitative easing is a situation where the central bank buys pre-existing government bonds and pays for these bonds by creating money. Quantitative easing has a positive effect on the economy if banks use the additional excess reserves to lend more or if the economic agent that sells government bonds to the central bank behaves differently when it holds money than when it holds government bonds: it is therefore an effect of the composition of this economic agent’s wealth. Helicopter money is a situation where the government makes a public transfer payment to a group of economic agents, and finances this transfer payment by money creation (either directly, or because the bond issued is immediately purchased by the central bank). This, therefore, involves the addition of targeted government spending and quantitative easing. Helicopter money has a positive effect on the economy if the group of economic agents that receives the public transfer payments spend it (on purchases of goods and services or housing, but this can also be on purchases of financial assets), which is therefore very different from the case of quantitative easing.