Everyone who thinks that the Troika or German bailout plan for Greece is harsh and strict on the Greeks should read the Euro exit plan scenario proposed by Dutch Jurre Hermans. And let it be noted that Mr. Hermans is only an 11-year-old boy and no analyst.
The youngster submitted his proposal on a contingency plan for a break-up of the Eurozone to win the UK Wolfson Economics Prize of £250,000 last October, while he was only 10 years old.
Hermans’ absolute proposal concerning the Greek exit from the EU currency is by far harsher than the German policy demanding the full implementation of the bailout measures by the Greek government.
The Dutch boy will receive a 100 euro voucher for his participation by the British think tank, Policy Exchange, even if his theory did not make it to the five finalists competing for the Prize.
In his drawing explaining the workings of his Euro exit theory, Jurre Hermans suggests that the Greek people must give all their Euro money to the banks and get drachmas in exchange. In this way, they will create a “pizza or pancake” that will enable the Greek government to pay off the country’s debt slice by slice. Moreover, the youngster proposes penalties for all those who do not give their Euros to the banks and try to speculate with the new drachma.
This is the boy’s letter, in which he explains his theory:
Dear Sir and Madam,
My name is Jurre Hermans. I am 10 years old and live in the Netherlands. I am quite worried about the eurocrisis and look at the TV news daily. The eurocrisis is a big problem. I think about solutions. Since I read in the newspaper about your price, I thought that I would like to submit my idea. The idea might fit. So here it is: I made a picture of my solution and I will explain it to you.
Greece should leave the Euro. How do you do that? All Greek people should bring their Euro to the bank. They put it in an exchange machine (see left on my picture). You see, the Greek guy does not look happy!! The Greek man gets back Greek Drachme from the bank, their old currency.
The Bank gives all these euro’s to the Greek Government (see top left on my picture). All these euros together form a pancake or a pizza (see on top in the picture). Now the Greek government can start to pay back all their debts, 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).
Now here comes the clever part of my idea:
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 theywait 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.
I hope my idea helps you!!!!
Of course if a country has paid back all his debts , he can return to the eurozone.
A bit more about myself: I am 10, love animals since I have a dog and a bird. I live in a family of 5 in Holland. I have 5 friends with whom I play all day, mostly outside.
P.S. My father helped me with my English translation as I speak Dutch.
greetings from Holland,
Jurre Hermans
The schoolboy’s idea has received mixed reviews so far. Some are pointing out that the pizza model bears great similarity to the anti-Hellenic policy line of the Dutch Finance Minister, Jan Kees de Jager, and that the boy is most probably repeating the ideas of his surrounding environment. Others claim that the underage boy managed to offer a solution to the problem, while economists have failed to do likewise.
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