The acquisition of private sector assets by the UK central bank or the deployment of a ‘helicopter drop' with funds being given directly to consumers would need government involvement and are unlikely to spur the UK economy back to growth, according to Charles Bean, a deputy governor of the Bank of England (BoE). Bean also dismissed calls for the cancellation of gilts accumulated by the Bank of England as part of its quantitative easing (QE) programme. But Bean indicated the usefulness of QE may