Little will be done in the near future to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The divisions between European and American policymakers and between developed and developing countries will take many years to bridge.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it will give all nations an opportunity to develop action programs for taxation, research, subsidization, and regulation. Besides, since future generations will undoubtedly be richer than their grandparents, postponing the cost of curtailing emissions makes good sense: Future generations will be able to bear such costs more easily.

"Costs and Benefits of Greenhouse Gas Reduction" is one in a series of new AEI studies related to the globalization of environmental policy. These studies will focus on specific issues, such as global climate change, and on the new institutional arrangements required to deal with them. A list of publications in this series appears inside.

Thomas C. Schelling is Distinguished University Professor, Department of Economics and School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland. He has also served on the faculties of Yale and Harvard Universities.