ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of whether the world as a whole should impose additional regulations on emissions of potential ozone depleters or await future developments before deciding. It abstracts from the important issues associated with coordinating action among nations. Because the costs of preventing ozone depletion, and the consequences if it does occur, are likely to vary widely among nations, these issues may be important in determining how to structure regulations and how much ozone depletion and climate modification to risk. The degree of belief about the severity of the threat of ozone depletion required to make the interim-regulation strategy cost-effective is identified. In the worst case, delaying further emission restrictions may unavoidably commit the earth to significant ozone depletion and climate modification. On the other side, the risk to adopting further restrictions is that these restrictions may later prove to have been unnecessary; the costs incurred would have produced no benefits.
