Pros
Each case presented a new opportunity to learn because each case involved a new industry. There were several opportunities to expand one's skill set (including formal training for several software packages) and most economists were more than willing to share their insights and expertise with the research analysts. The atmosphere is very collegial, with information sharing among economists and other research analysts. The environment focuses more on outputs than inputs. Finishing high quality work in a timely and professional fashion is much more highly valued than keeping any particular work schedule or being an expert on some subject matter.
Cons
The research analyst is a short term position normally held for one to two years by people recently graduated from bachelor's or master's programs. It is not a career position. Sometimes the work for a specific case can be tedious and lengthy. Because the work is so case specific (each analyst has their own cases), experiences vary from person to person and year to year. Lastly, the economist to research analyst ratio is about 5:1, so they share research analysts' time frequently. Economists have been known to quibble over whose case gets priority over the cases of others with regards to the time of research analysts. This can put research analysts in an awkward position.