Watch: Tim Wu debates trustbusting with Tyler Cowen, who just wrote "a love letter" to Big Business

Competition scholar Tim Wu (previously) is one of the most cogent, accessible voices in the antitrust debate; his recent book on the subject is a must-read; this week, he debated George Mason University scholar Tyler Cowen, proprietor of Marginal Revolution and one of the leading voices for the expansion of unfettered, unregulated capitalism -- he's the face of the notorious Mercatus Center, where rich donors choose the faculty and out pop arguments against universal health care and Net Neutrality.

I follow Cowen's work pretty closely because I really disagree with him and also find that he puts forward persuasive arguments, and delving into the deficiencies in those arguments is a good way to figure out what's missing from my own arguments (a friend once emailed me that Cowan "specializes in the 'hey, maybe there's some merit in this overlooked idea, I don't know, I'm just asking' presentation of appalling ideas").

Cowen's latest book is Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero and it fits in that vein, arguing that businesses might not be big enough.

I've often wondered how Cowen would fare in a debate where someone who was really knowledgeable could rebut him in realtime, and now I know. Wu runs circles around Cowen.

It makes for an entertaining hour -- but also an informative one. The rebuttals are really on-point here, and make Cowan's arguments seem very flimsy by comparison.

(via Marginal Revolution) Read the rest