The economic advisers to Barack Obama and John McCain debated today at the UW-Madison. Ike Brannon spoke on behalf of the McCain-Palin campaign and Austan Goolsbee on behalf of the Obama-Biden campaign. Here's the link to Proposals for Change (Adobe Flash required).

For me, of greatest interest is the excellent question by Dean Knetter of whether the current financial crisis is to be attributed to too much government intervention (e.g., it's F&F, CRA, etc.) or insufficient regulation of the appropriate type.

Surprising to me was the response to the question about income inequality. While Goolsbee doesn't take a stand on how to apportion the causes between trade, technical change and other factors, Brannon attributes greatest importance to technical change.

On the issue of international trade, Goolsbee views the current account deficits as a sign of weaknesses, rather than a problem in and of themselves. In addition, Goolsbee asks if free trade agreements are truly pro-free trade, a question I myself have asked. Brannon was unabashedly in favor of free trade -- preferably via multilateral agreements, rather than free trade agreements -- but viewed there being little argument for any regulatory impediments. I thought the idea of wage insurance, if properly implemented (I'm not sure how it'd be paid for given the current budgetary conditions) was a good way in which to make an open trading regime sustainable.

I may have mis-characterized some positions, but it's all online.