Money Heist or to use its Spanish title, La Casa de Papel on its release rapidly became Netflix's most-watched non-English language show worldwide. The crime drama follows an elaborate heist intricately planned by a genius mastermind that calls himself "The Professor." The story begins when he recruits eight people with individual abilities and introduces them to his plan to pull off the biggest heist in recorded history.
In one of the most impactful episodes of the first season, the Professor provides an insight into the effect of their actions. They plan to enter the "Royal Mint of Spain," print and take off with 2.4 billion euros. This makes us question, that if in reality, was a heist like this to happen, what would happen to the country's economy? Would the economy collapse? The Professor tells Raquel that in 2012 the European Central Bank made 185 billion Euros and 145 billion in 2013, out of nothing. These statistics are what eventually make Raquel question which side is really the genuine side. These numbers are not just made to just fit in with the storyline of the show, but are true. This money was not printed as suggested in the show, but since 2003, three trillion Euros have been injected into the European economy. This is three thousand times more than what the robbers stole. So, if a heist like in the show was to happen, certainly nothing would happen to the economy.
When such an economic crisis, like a heist occurs, it eventually leads to recession. So, money would be additionally injected into the economy and would just appear from "thin air." This is called "liquidity injections." So on some days, European banks would literally wake up with more money in their accounts. This process was not designed to be an unfair, legal way for the government to create money as the Professor suggests, but as time has passed it has evolved to become exactly that. This process, in reality, is an economic strategy termed "Quantitative Easing" and is aimed at stimulating the economy during financial crises. Quantitative Easing is only initiated when all other methods have collapsed. In a time like this, the solitary thing the central banks can do is to increase the quantity of money. So the banks just give themselves money, "ex-nihilo," or out of nothing.
Coming back to the show, this is exactly what the first heist attacks. The amount of money the gang was planning to print and get away with was no match for the astronomical amounts of self-printed money the European Central Bank or the Federal Reserve System in the US injected into the National Banks.
The professor often describes his team as "the resistance." The professor has no intention of stealing money or harming civilians in any way, and the money is just a lucrative way of getting people to work for his cause.
So, economically speaking, even if they managed to print the complete 2.4 billion euros, nothing would happen. They would have to print 20 billion euros, to print simply one percent of what the European government has added into the economy over the past 12 years. So in reality, the heist causes no economic instability. The show which is now one of Netflix's flagship originals is a great watch, especially in times of self-quarantine.
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