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(wap / rwa) The initiators of the St. Gallen Rhine Valley now have 18 months to collect 100,000 signatures for their groundbreaking project: on Tuesday, the Federal Chancellery gave the green light to collecting signatures for the so-called helicopter money initiative. This requires the Swiss National Bank to pay each person who has Swiss citizenship a one-time payment of CHF 7,500. This would allow the National Bank to inject an additional 54 billion francs into the real economy at the same time, expanding the money supply, and thereby driving inflation.
The latter is the real objective of the initiative. On their website, the initiators argue that the National Bank can use the helicopter money to take effective action against the overvalued franc. The committee maintains that the Swiss export industry will be strengthened by a competitive franc. He also expects the current low interest rates to have an impact: “Saving should pay off again.”
Helicopter money has prominent supporters among economists
The idea of reviving the economy with helicopter money is not new. In the spring, under the impression of the crisis of the crown, the French-speaking economist Michaël Malquarti brought into the discussion the money of a helicopter of 1,000 francs per person and met with open ears in the business world, for example, in the organization umbrella for retail in Switzerland. Its president Jean-Marc Probst said: “In this way, the money would land right where it belongs: in the real economy.”
Until now, the idea has not been heard by the National Bank itself, its president Thomas Jordan last year described helicopter money as “playing with fire”, since it would mix monetary and fiscal policy. Former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former SNB Chairman Philipp Hildebrand are prominent advocates of helicopter money.
For now, the initiative committee, which was formed around young local St. Gallen politician Luca Volar, is alone in the room. No major organization has yet supported the referendum.
