JOSEPH GUTH on the cost-benefit analysis, which enjoys a special status in U.S. law and policy. “U.S. law was designed to promote economic growth … faced with uncertainty, ignorance or doubt, the law presumes that economic growth should continue – until an explicit cost-benefit analysis can show conclusively that the costs to society outweigh any benefits.”
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html