Proponents of cost-benefit analysis in regulatory policy claim it is simply a neutral tool (that only coincidentally favors industry). Suppose CBA had been applied back in the 70s, when agencies issued many protections of the public interest that we know have been overwhelmingly successful. It could have changed history for the worse:
The first wave of modern environmental protection, beginning in the 1960s and
1970s, cleaned up the air and water, protected fragile ecosystems, and achieved great
gains in public health — without reliance on cost-benefit analysis, and clearly without