What happens when a leading conservative economist goes mano a mano with today's most influential exponent of left-liberal economics, over free markets versus government interventionism? Here are highlights of that showdown between Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate.

Moore and Krugman sparred over eight major economic issues in our national debate - from whether the policy response to the crisis of 2008 was successful, to the outlook for Obamacare, to the "red state / blue state? divide. The contest was cordial and spiced with wit. (Does air conditioning explain the migration from blue to red states? Is Houston still uninhabitable?)

This high-powered matchup illuminates a clash of worldview that leads to opposing policy prescriptions. More important, it will help you draw conclusions about which economic policies work.

Stephen Moore is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal. His recent books include An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States: How Taxes, Energy, and Worker Freedom Change Everything, with Arthur B. Laffer (Wiley, 2014) and Who's the Fairest of Them All? The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes, and Wealth in America (Encounter Books, 2012).