Among the various measures announced in response to the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the $2 trillion stimulus package legislated in the US at the end of March 2020 stands out in terms of size. This column quantifies the multiplier of the stimulus’s transfer component. It finds that transfers which top up unemployment benefits are particularly effective because they reduce the income risk due to the lockdown ex ante. In this case, the multiplier may be as high as 2.