Steve Chiotakis: European leaders are scrambling this week to rescue the eurozone, besieged by huge debt — not only in Greece, but also Spain, whose credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s. And now a new economics prize announced today asks for the best plan to break up the troubled euro — with a top prize of $400,000 dollars.

Christopher Werth has more from London.

Christopher Werth: A member of Britain’s House of Lords is looking for ways to put the eurozone out of its misery, even though the U.K. is not a member of the common currency.

Simon Wolfson is the chief executive of the British clothing chain, Next. And he’s put his own money on the line to entice the likes of big name economists Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and others to put their thinking caps on and consider how the eurozone might be broken apart in an orderly way.

Simon Wolfson: What I’m hoping for is that we do get the world’s best and brightest academics, economic academics, really thinking about this issue, and coming up with some good answers.

For example, if Greece were to leave the euro zone, what would happen to everyone’s mortgages – denominated in euros, but held by banks in France or Germany?

The prize could draw at least a few takers. Organizers claim it’s the second largest prize in economics behind the Nobel Prize.

In London, I’m Christopher Werth.