Exact and general analytic expressions are reported for the integrated intensity and the width of collision-induced absorption (CIA) and collision-induced scattering (CIS) bands by gases of centrosymmetric linear molecules. These expressions provide significant insight and allow assignment of partial second moments to the degrees of freedom of the colliding molecules. The expressions are applied to ambient CO2, whose collisional spectra are reputed to be useful probes for terrestrial and planetary atmospheres. Compelling evidence of the substantial role of hitherto missing polarization and polarizability mechanisms is provided and is in remarkable agreement with experimental observation. Our findings allow the long-overdue simple interpretation of CIA and CIS by CO2-CO2 without the need to resort to short-range interactions to offset the discrepancies between theory and experiment. © 2008 The American Physical Society.