Swiss central banker a euro crisis Nostradamus?

"Achieving the 60 percent debt limit is hardly possible for Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Greece," he wrote. "Italy and Greece need to undertake major steps even to stabilise their debts."

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Jordan is far from the only economist to express reservations about Europe's common currency, especially because the bloc lacked a fiscal union.

But his views are significant because he is likely to become SNB chairman, in charge of defending a cap of 1.20 per euro on the Swiss franc.

The cap was introduced in September to stop the currency soaring as investors sought a safe haven from the euro zone crisis.

Ernst Baltensperger, who supervised Jordan's thesis, said the fact it reads like a story of what actually transpired demonstrated his capacity to combine sharp analysis and policy judgement.

"A careful reading of his thesis further shows his great intellectual independence and tenacity in pursuing and developing complex arguments," Baltensperger said.

PRESCIENT VIEW

When countries with varying levels of debt form a currency union, interest rates for those with relatively low borrowings rise while they fall for those with high debts, Jordan wrote.

This raised the incentive for countries with high debts to borrow more within a bloc than they would alone. Yet because of the currency union, governments also lost the ability to monetise debts via inflation or debasement.

Exactly this has happened, leading to huge debt problems in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland and stress elsewhere.