This is the analysis by the economic division of the FAA, which had done a cost-benefit evaluation of the proposed new rules for commercial use of small UAVs in the US. An excerpt:
The FAA has analyzed the benefits and the costs associated with this proposed rule. The
estimated out-of-pocket cost for a small UAS operator to be FAA-certified is less than $300. As
this proposal enables new businesses to be established, the private sector expected benefits
exceed private sector expected costs when new entrepreneurs enter. As more opportunities
increase, so will the social benefits. In addition, if the use of a small UAS replaces a dangerous
non-UAS operation and saves one human life, that alone would result in benefits outweighing
the expected costs of this proposed rule.
We determined that this proposed rule would: have benefits that would justify its costs;
would potentially have an economic impact of greater than $100 million per year in terms of
benefits (which might be derived from new small UAS businesses and applications) and thus
would be an economically “significant regulatory action”
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