France, Italy, Germany and Britain constitute a large majority of EU's economy
It's interesting that Samuelson never gave the composite EU figure - concealing something, perhaps?
Environmental standards, especially air quality standards, often miss deadlines and targets, and that includes the United States. That's an incentive to do a better job on the next round, not to give up and go home. Ozone depleting chemicals followed this pattern.
Samuelson argues for a fuel tax. Remember how Bushies went after Kerry for arguing the same thing in a speech 10-15 years earlier?