An 11-year-old Dutch school boy has been awarded a €100 prize for his efforts in an international competition for top economists to prepare a contingency plan for a break-up of the eurozone.

The committee organising the Wolfson Economics Prize said Jurre Hermans was the youngest person to compete.
Jurre, whose father translated his entry, decided to enter the competition after watching children’s news show Jeugdjournaal, and because of his concern about the eurozone crisis.
Jurre’s paper, complete with diagram, proposes that Greece should leave the euro. Greek citizens would exchange their euros for drachmas and anyone caught moving euros abroad would be penalised financially.
‘If a Greek man tries to keep his euros or bring them to a bank in another country like Holland or Germany and it is discovered, he gets a penalty as high or double the whole amount in euros he tried to hide,’ Jurre wrote.
‘In this way, I ensure that all Greeks bring their euros to a Greek bank and so the Greek government can pay back its debts,’ the paper continued. ‘Of course, if a country has paid back all its debts, it can return to the eurozone.’
Jurre’s entry and diagram can be read on the Wolfsen Prize website.