In one specific set of contexts, however, the Capital Asset Pricing Model has the power of government behind it. In the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries, privately owned utilities (such as the suppliers of electricity natural gas, and water) are often regulated by government-appointed commissions that set the maximum prices that utilities can charge or the maximum rates of profit that they can earn. In so doing, those commissions are typically required to ensure that, in the words of the crucial U.S. legal judgment, the 1949 Hope decision, "the return to the equity owner should be commensurate with returns on investments and other enterprises having corresponding risks."

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1149