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Read other letters about this article
See the review of Freeman Dyson in the New York Review of Books, Volume 55, Number 10 ยท June 12, 2008.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21494
Dyson reviews, "A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies" by William Nordhaus, an economist who compares several climate change policies using a model called DICE (Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy). The optimal policy "...judged by Nordhaus to be the most cost-effective, with a worldwide tax on carbon emissions adjusted each year to give the maximum aggregate economic gain [3 trillion USD by 2100]."
The optimal policy, according to the DICE model, is contrasted with doing nothing, with a cost in environmental damage of $23 trillion; following the Kyoto Protocol will net $1 trillion with US participation and $0 otherwise; the Gore policy has a cost of $21 trillion. See the article for the rest.
You don't have to be a climate change naysayer to take issue with some of the economic proposals being offered.
