Cost-benefit analysis is the government analog to that process: Governments can and have used it for assistance in making decisions as diverse as purchasing word processing equipment, modernizing vehicle fleets, developing water resources, developing communicable disease-control programs, and developing a supersonic transport plane. It has also been used to evaluate the worth of numerous government regulations. For capital-budget purposes, however, cost-benefit analysis is similar to decision-making processes used by private firms: The analysis estimates whether the gain to society(benefit) from the project is greater than the social sacrifice(cost) required to produce the project. If so, the project is worthwhile; if not, the project is not worthwhile. Worthwhile projects improve society’s economic condition because worthwhile projects direct resources where their use provides a greater return than would alternative use.