It is a fact of life that they stop manufacturing news over Christmas, which is why the papers are filled with even more dross than normal. Double-page jumbo cryptic crosswords help you while away the time between Christmas lunch and the turkey sandwiches. Guido has something equally as cryptic but far more rewarding…

If you can figure out how a Eurozone state can leave the Euro you could win £250,000. Guido isn’t joking, the Wolfson Economics Prize will be awarded to the person “who is able to articulate how best to manage the orderly exit of one or more member states from the European Monetary Union.”

You have a month until the deadline for submissions on January 31, 2012. So instead of snoozing in the armchair after lunch dreaming of escaping to sunny lands dream of rich sunlit post-Euro uplands. According to the Wolfson Prize announcement the detailed issues that exiting the Eurozone raises include:-

• Whether and how to redenominate sovereign debt, private savings, and domestic mortgages in the departing nations.
• Whether and how international contracts denominated in euros might be altered, if one party to the contract is based in a member state which leaves EMU.
• The effects on the stability of the banking system.
• The link between exit from EMU and sovereign debt restructuring.
• How to manage the macroeconomic effects of exit, including devaluation, inflation, confidence, and effects on debts.
• Different timetables and approaches to transition (e.g. “surprise” redenomination versus signalled transitions).
• How best to manage the legal and institutional implications.
• A consideration of evidence from relevant historical examples (e.g. the end of various currency pegs and previous monetary unions)

The Wolfson Economics Prize, worth €286,000, is the second biggest cash prize to be awarded after the Nobel Prize. It aims to ensure that high quality economic thought is given to how the Euro might be restructured into more stable currencies. Guido is read widely in  City dealing rooms, crammed with bond market vigilantes and Phd wielding economic analysts. Given the paucity of bonuses this year, best get your thinking caps on…

Full details from the website:
policyexchange.org.uk/WolfsonEconomicsPrize