If there are no regulations preventing it, a business will externalize¹ all its costs to be paid by the whole of society instead of the costs being paid by the business itself.  Society naturally has an incentive to not allow any and all parties to impose costs on it, so regulations are created which disallow externalizing costs.  In the long run, having regulations <i>is</i> cheaper for a company than having all <i>other</i> companies in existence heaping externalized costs on it — this is why we live in a society instead of a jungle.<p>① <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Externality" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Externality</a>