11-Year Old Solves Euro Crisis

The Wolfson Economics Prize finalists were just announced, and amongst the financial experts and analysts, an honorable mention was awarded to someone with only an elementary education.

Here's the recipient's impressive story:

Jurre Hermans, a 10-year-old boy from the Netherlands (11-years-old now), had written a letter expressing his concern over the Euro crisis. Moreover, that letter also included his version of a viable solution that would allow the Greek government to pay off its debt.

In a brilliantly written letter the young boy maps out his clever – and petty tyrannical! – loan repayment system to follow suit once Greece leaves the Euro.

Even more impressive, the boy's father helped him translate the letter into English as their family speaks Dutch.

To sum up Jurre's idea: All Greek people would bring their euros to the bank and exchange that money for Greece's older currency, the Greek Drachme. Then, the bank that has collected all those euros would pass them all along to the Greek government (note: the euros within the government form a "pizza" as seen in the attached picture). That would allow the government to begin repaying its debts, according to Hermans: “everyone who has a debt gets a slice of the pizza. You see that all these euro’s in the pizza’s go the companies and banks who have given loans in greece (see right in my picture).”

But, wait! That's not the clever part of the plan, says Hermans. This next excerpt reveals his clever mind at work, where the real motion of his plan becomes clear:

The Greek people do not want to exchange their Euro’s for Drachmes because they know that this Drachme will lose its value dramatically. They try to keep or hide their Euro’s. They know that if they wait a while they will get more Drachmes. So if a Greek man tries to keep his Euros (or bring his euros to a bank in an other country like Holland [or] Germany) and it is discovered, he gets a penalty just as high or double as the whole amount in euros he tried to hide!!! In this way I ensure that all Greeks bring their euros to a greek bank and so the greek government can pay back all the debts. 

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Rest easy, this elementary student has a handle on everything!

Lest we keep in mind he's got a busy schedule to keep up with...he's got a dog and a bird residing with him and his family of five. He also said he has “5 friends with whom I play all day, mostly outside.”

Let's let him get back to his friends, family, and pets and let the other Wolfson Economics Prize finalists work tackling Europe's debt crisis.