Governments have several policy instruments available for influencing the penetration of agricultural biotechnology into their environments and agricultural/food systems. These policies affect research, intellectual property rights, regulatory approval, labeling, and trade. They influence the speed of adoption of agricultural biotechnology and the ultimate market share of products produced with its use. Most broadly, an economic evaluation of the use of risk analysis to regulate agricultural biotechnology and products derived from it focuses on the welfare effects of the policy chosen relative to those of alternative policies that could have been chosen. Benefit/cost analysis is the means of monetizing these effects. Differences between countries in rates of and conditions on regulatory approval of agricultural biotechnologies result from different approaches to the factors included in risk analysis and the inclusion of different factors. The full application of benefit/cost analysis in different countries may indicate that different policies best suit their varying situations.