By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, July 28, 2021
Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas. …
One of the valuable lessons classic economics can teach us is that there are always trade-offs. If you invest in one thing, you won’t be investing in another. You can see the bridge you spent money on, but you don’t see the hundreds of things not done because you spent money on the bridge.
When I was chairman of my university’s curriculum committee, proposals abounded trumpeting wonderful new courses. My question was “What are you going to stop doing in order to do this?” “No, no,” people insisted, “we will continue doing all the wonderful things we do now.” “No, you won’t,” I would say. “Everyone is working a full schedule. …