A helicopter drop refers to a term first coined by Milton Friedman as a rhetorical device intended to abstract away the effects of any monetary policy transmission mechanisms in a thought experiment regarding the addition of cash to the bank accounts of all citizens—as if dropped from a helicopter overnight. In recent decades this term has come to refer to a figurative application of Friedman's metaphor, as a type of monetary stimulus strategy that increases the quantity of the money supply and directly distributes cash to the public in order to spur inflation—or rising prices—and economic growth.