Ronald Bailey Looks for Clues that Obama's Game of Climate Follow-the-Leader Will Work
The EPA has issued proposed rules that would cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from electric power generation by 30 percent below its 2005 level by 2030. Coal-fired electric power generation will bear most of the brunt of the new regulations. President Obama and environmental activists claim that this action signals to other countries that America is serious about fighting man-made climate change. Given this signal, the president believes that other countries will now play follow-the-leader and begin to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions. Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey reports that game theory suggests that it might not be so simple.