Resource Allocation Hypothetical Example:

Here is my proposed hypothetical situation that I would like to throw out there for your consideration and thoughts. Assume I am a college student and have $1000 that I've saved up from a summer job. Either I have decided to use this money to help others, or I feel compelled to help others, or I am physically compelled via government taxation to provide the money to help others. My interest in this posting is not why to give, but how to best use the $1000. I propose a few situations below:

• Situation A: Marisa became pregnant her senior year at East High School in inner-city Rochester, NY in 2003. She had the support of her mother and grandmother, and decided to both graduate and keep the baby. The baby's father, John, her high school boyfriend, left to Iraq in 2003 right after they graduated. They both did reasonably well in high school. $1000 could be used to provide an apartment and food to Marisa and her baby for 1 month.
• Situation B: $1000 could feed & provide basic education for one month to 30 orphaned children somewhere in the third world(via something like World Vision or Compassion International).
• Situation C: I spend the $1000 furthering my own education because I wouldn't want to be frustrated in not becoming all I can be. My education may or may not possibly benefit society somehow.

What would you do?

Economics is fundamentally about resource allocation in a world that has limited resources. Various governmental, religious, and philosophical systems address this issue, but in the end, there will be some allocation of the fixed amount of currently available resources.