Three out of four Italians think that the war between Russia and Ukraine is causing the increase in the prices of energy sources which, in Italy, is there for all to see. While experts explain that this very serious international crisis is certainly aggravating dynamics already underway and also due to other causes, 76% of Italians, as regards gas and 74%, as regards fuel, attribute the increases exclusively to war.
This gives the sign of the concern that is developing rapidly with the continuation of the conflict and which becomes even more dramatic for the 58% of the Italian population who fear the blockage of gas supplies as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine.
The energy question
These are the main data emerging from a survey launched in recent days by EngageMinds HUB, the Research Center in Psychology of Consumption and Health of the Catholic University, Cremona campus, which for over two years has been conducting a continuous monitoring of attitudes and behaviors of Italians.
“The war in the European continent focuses on the energy question – underlines Professor Guendalina Graffigna, director of EngageMinds HUB of Cattolica -. Consumers are very worried about the increase in the price of gas and oil, both because there are already objective signs of this increase, and because they are basic necessities that affect everyone closely. On the other hand – continues Graffigna – this activates and emphasizes an energy awareness of the population in favor of alternative energies, together with the persistence of strong doubts about nuclear power ».
Here is the data. For 81% of the population, Italy should invest more in the production of renewable energies, alternatives to fossil ones; and 75% believe that our country’s energy future will be in that direction. Only 41% of the sample of the Cattolica survey declared themselves in favor of the nuclear source, towards which there is less favor compared to other energy sources probably considered safer or more “green”.
Pessimism affects the economy and faith in the future
The sense of insecurity does not stop with the energy issue. From the analysis of researchers from Cattolica’s EngageMinds HUB, the share of Italians who consider their current financial situation at risk is growing – reaching 34%; in the survey last September, only 26% of the sample was. Above all, the percentage of Italians who look with mistrust at their individual and family economic future has more than doubled: from 20% in September 2021 to 41% of today’s survey.
A negative mood that is confirmed by looking at the prospects of the “country system”. In fact, those who fear that the country’s economic situation will only get worse in a year has risen from 22% last September to 47% in recent weeks. Just as those who foresee an increase in unemployment and a serious economic crisis for the future grow from 37% to 65%. So much so that 36% think of postponing important family expenses (in September it was 21%). A picture that is completed considering that today 57% of Italians evaluate the national economic condition negatively, compared to 47% last autumn. «These subjective perceptions denote the great uncertainty of Italians about the effects that the war in Ukraine could also have on the well-being of our country – comments Professor Graffigna -. Consumer psychology teaches that, beyond objective economic conditions, these perceptions of “sentiment” are strongly predictive and explanatory of actual consumer behavior. The rush to stocks of basic necessities or products that promise some form of protection in the event of an aggravation of the conflict, for example iodine pills, on the one hand and on the other the procrastination of more demanding purchases, are the consequence of psychological uncertainty of Italians. However, according to Graffigna – it should be emphasized: in the first acute phase of the pandemic, in May 2020, the Italians worried about the economic condition of the country reached 80%, therefore a decidedly more marked trend than the current one, clearly due the impact of the first lockdown and the consequences that were beginning to foreshadow; the pandemic and the relative containment measures, therefore, in the subjective perceptions of Italians, had an even more marked impact than the current tragedy of the war; the psychological explanation is that the consequences of today’s conflict, even if they worry the majority of Italians, are at the moment perceived as distant “.