<P> The application for broader public policy started from the work of Otto Eckstein, who in 1958 laid out a welfare economics foundation for CBA and its application for water resource development . Over the 1960s, CBA was applied in the US for water quality, recreation travel, and land conservation . During this period, the concept of option value was developed to represent the non-tangible value of preserving resources such as national parks . </P> <P> CBA was later expanded to address both intangible and tangible benefits of public policies relating to mental illness, substance abuse, college education, and chemical waste policies . In the US, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 first required the application of CBA for regulatory programs, and since then, other governments have enacted similar rules . Government guidebooks for the application of CBA to public policies include the Canadian guide for regulatory analysis, Australian guide for regulation and finance, US guide for health care programs, and US guide for emergency management programs . </P> <P> CBA application for transport investment started in the UK with the M1 motorway project, and was later applied on many projects including London Underground's Victoria line . Later, the New Approach to Appraisal (NATA) was introduced by the then Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions . This presented cost--benefit results and detailed environmental impact assessments in a balanced way . NATA was first applied to national road schemes in the 1998 Roads Review but subsequently rolled out to all transport modes . As of 2011 it was a cornerstone of transport appraisal in the UK and is maintained and developed by the Department for Transport . </P> <P> The EU's' Developing Harmonised European Approaches for Transport Costing and Project Assessment' (HEATCO) project, part of its Sixth Framework Programme, reviewed transport appraisal guidance across EU member states and found that significant differences exist between countries . HEATCO's aim was to develop guidelines to harmonise transport appraisal practice across the EU . </P>

Data analysis cost and benefit analysis of a system