CBA has gone through cycles of favour and disfa-vour in the UK. Currently, it is in favour. This maynot be obvious from a casual inspection of govern-ment and regulatory agency activity, but it is clearthat CBA studies are multiplying and that they areexerting some influence. There are more studiesthan might be thought, and they are having morebearing on individual pieces of legislation than mightbe thought. But their role should not be exaggerated.There is a much smaller tradition of using CBA forregulatory appraisal and for damages settlements inEurope than there is in the USA. In the UK, notabledevelopments that are leading to a change in thatsituation are the development of formal regulatoryappraisal for all new regulation, and the require-ments upon the Environment Agency to use CBA.In mainland Europe, a similar stimulus has comefrom Article 130R of the Treaty on European Union(Pearce, 1998). If damage legislation were ever todevelop in Europe, there would be further stimulusto benefit estimation. One area where benefit esti-mation could be expected to develop is in the publicinquiry process. Surprisingly, few public inquiriesare informed by benefit estimates, an issue thatrequires a separate explanation on some otheroccasion.Obstacles remain. Monetization is controversial.Much of the controversy is misplaced and reflectspoor understanding of what monetization is about,but some of it has substance and needs to beaddressed. In some cases, the obstacles can beovercome by improving the way in which CBA ispresented and carried out. In other cases, the ethicaldebate is to the fore and, in many cases, it raisesmany pertinent issues. Arguably, advocates of CBAhave overstated their case, making it sound as ifCBA substitutes for decision-making. It can, at best,inform decision-making, and it is important that itdoes so, since economic efficiency is all too easilyforgotten in the political process. Finally, the issue iswhether we have anything better as a decision aid.Here there has to be doubt. CBA still seems the‘best game in town’