Does Reagan’s cost–benefit thinking on ozone show the way on climate?

New York Times : Legal scholar and former Obama administration official Cass R. Sunstein asserts, “Economists of diverse viewpoints concur that if the international community entered into a sensible agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the economic benefits would greatly outweigh the costs.” He invokes costâbenefit thinking that led President Ronald Reagan to make the US “the prime mover behindâ.â.â. the phasing out of ozone-depleting chemicals.” Sunstein argues that Reagan saw past Republican and conservative ridicule of concerned scientists and recognized the payoff in cancer avoidance alone. He quantifies prospective payoffs from auto fuel-economy mandates, claims that “monetary benefits dwarf the costs” of improving electrical appliance efficiency, and presumes a human-induced general increase in enormously costly hurricane intensity. He adds that “cost-effective” US climate measures “should spur technological changes and regulatory initiatives” in foreign nations as well. “The big question now,” Sunstein says, “is whether today’s Republicans will follow Reagan’s example.”