The blue diagram, which shows the levels of the current risk indices, indicates relatively low levels, with most of the measured risks reflecting the global macroeconomic situation – moderate growth, high unemployment, and low indices reflecting consumer confidence and business confidence. These, of course, also have an effect on the domestic macroeconomic risk, which reflects moderate growth.
After the exogenous shock, energy prices remained high in Italy, in part due to it having among the highest taxes on energy products in the EU.26 The prices were a key signal for improving energy productivity, which had stalled prior to the oil crisis.27 There are certainly some differences between now and then; among other things, the energy component of GDP has continued to fall over the last thirty years, in part due to the growth in services to the detriment of manufacturing; moreover, at this moment in time, we do not know how permanent the increases that we are experiencing will be.