An agnostic examination of the case for action on global warming

by Murray L. Weidenbaum

There are many uncertainties involved in developing policy responses to the complex issue of global warming. A major obstacle to achieving consensus positions on global warming is the difficulty of obtaining accurate scientific information to help in making better decisions about how to respond. Murray Weidenbaum, former Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, notes that the cost of significant caps on CO2 usage "will range from tens of billions to hundreds of billions of dollars a year." Possible consequences of a stabilization of CO2 emissions by 2010 include a slowdown in real wage growth, a worsening in the distribution of income, and other severe economic impacts on important manufacturing industries, notably petroleum refining, chemicals, paper, cement, steel, aluminum, transportation, and electric utilities. Because global climate change is a global problem, Dr. Weidenbaum questions whether there would be any net benefit in terms of reducing the human influence on global climate if CO2 caps are limited to the industrialized nations. This report is sponsored by the Committee on New American Realities of the National Policy Association.

12 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998