Economists use a cost benefit analysis to gain a general perspective on whether a proposal is economically viable. For example, when determining whether the government should invest in reconstructing an unsafe highway, economists try to quantify both the costs and the benefits of such an action. Costs include things such as lost time in traffic while parts of the highway are temporarily closed and the cost of repairing the highway. Benefits include saved costs due to fewer accidents and fatalities on the highway and better flow of traffic when the highway is repaired.
A life cycle cost analysis takes a long view on how much a particular project or construction might cost and compares that against alternatives. Economists use life cycle costs to help determine what types of buildings are most cost-efficient. For example, a building that is cheap to build but requires annual maintenance may be more expensive over the course of 20 years than a building that is expensive to build but requires little maintenance.
Surplus analysis allows economists to gauge how much product will sell in the market and what will happen to the unsold product. Surplus analysis alerts economists to the dangers of a saturated market. For example, when southern planters in the U.S. began using the cotton gin, cotton became a lot cheaper to produce, and there was a major cotton surplus that led to a substantial drop in the price of cotton. Economists use surplus analysis to predict the effects of such a surplus across other sectors of the economy.
Economists interested in the social factors of economics use value engineering analysis to quantify the sociological impact of economic processes. Value analysis deals with intangibles, such as artistic and moral value. Value engineering analysts attempt to take non-numerical values and place them within an economic framework. Economists interested in education and personal development often use this analytical technique.