GREENHOUSE POLICY PERSUASION - TOWARDS A POSITIVE THEORY OF DISCOUNTING THE CLIMATE FUTURE

The climate policy issue is in a state where different visions or prop osals compete with one another in the political arena. The success of such a vision or proposal largely depends on the success of its propon ents in persuading the public or a yet undecided ultimate authority of its merits. This essay identifies a discounting related ambiguity in cost-benefit analyses of climate change, making two competing visions and proposals ''legitimate.'' By placing the induced opportunity for g reenhouse policy persuasion in a political economy context, it is show n how visionaries and lobbyists can exploit human time preferences for the purpose of greenhouse policy persuasion.