Melbourne Cup illustrates Adam Smith's 'invisible hand'

Global greenhouse gas emissions tumbled during the 2008/9 global financial crisis.

It was Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” at work.

With the global economy heading measurably backwards, our consumptive habits took a pummelling, our use of energy dropped and our emission slowed noticeably.

Smith, an 18^th Century Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy discussed the “invisible hand” in his 1776 book: “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”.

And the work of the invisible hand was seen to be again at work during the running of the recent Melbourne Cup.

Writing on the Melbourne Age, the economics editor, Peter Martin, discussed an interesting, but not surprising climate change lesson arising from the Melbourne Cup.

His story: “Power down: What the Melbourne Cup can teach us about fighting climate change” helps us understand what it is we need to do to counter climarte change – use less energy.