I’ll have more to say about this later. The debate is going to try to get at the Keynesian versus Austrian business cycle theories. So, it something of replay of the Keynes/Hayek rap battle.

For now I let the Mises.org description speak for me:

The great debate between Keynesians and Austrians enters the digital age with the Mises Academy’s first ever online formal debate, between economists Karl Smith and Robert P. Murphy.

RESOLVED: GOVERNMENT SPENDING CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN BOOSTING ECONOMIC GROWTH

Smith will argue in favor of this resolution, and Murphy will argue against.

Karl Smith is Assistant Professor of Public Economics and Government at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Smith also contributes to the popular economic blog Modeled Behavior.  (See Dr. Murphy’s bio below.)

Each speaker will have 12 minutes to present his case, followed by 8 minutes each for rebuttals.  Then each speaker will have 1 minute to present a list of questions, which his opponent will have 4 minutes to answer.  Finally each speaker will have 5 minutes for concluding remarks.  The 60-minute debate will be followed by a 20 minute question-and-answer period, in which each speaker will have 10 minutes to respond to questions submitted by attendees.  Attendees will also have the opportunity to vote for or against the resolution both before and after the debate.  Will the debaters be able to sway opinions on either side?  We shall see!

The debate will be held on Friday, September 2, at 6pm Eastern time.  It will be online, and use Webex, the industry-standard web conferencing service.  Exact instructions for attending the session will be available at the debate’s main page, which will be accessible here upon registration.  The session will be recorded and made available for attendees to download.