*  *  Savings and investment  Half a century ago, when Italy was moving towards prosperity, it was the parsimony of its population that financed economic growth.
Automakers took advantage of low interest rates to offer attractive incentive deals, buoying the purchase of new vehicles. The lowest home mortgage rates in decades were a major contributor to record sales of existing residences, engendering a large extraction of cash from home equity. A significant part of that cash supported personal consumption expenditures and home improvement.