This chapter focuses on the contributions of economists to the selection, design, and evaluation of language policies, particularly since the late 1970s. We show how to perform status analysis using available data on earnings, language skills, language of work, and language of consumption. Then, we turn to the evaluation of the costs and benefits of language policy measures. We add a section on the use of stylized data, an approach common in economic theoretical modeling and empirical evaluation. Finally, this chapter discusses some challenges in understanding the role of economic processes in language issues.