Following the conflicts of the "hot autumn" of the late 1960s, a weak Italian economy, and society, had to face the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rates system and the two major oil shocks that followed the Yom Kippur war and the Iran revolution.
Personal sector indebtedness, as a proportion of GNP, rose from 33% to 44% over this period, and to a greater extent in relation to personal disposable income. The indebtedness of the property sector, as a proportion of GNP, doubled between 1994 and 1999. Overall levels of indebtedness, having risen from a relatively low level, are not currently particularly high by international standards.