It had many causes, but the oil price shock of 1973-74 was a major one.It's why economists are always concerned about global energy price shocks because they know what havoc they can wreak.At the moment, we're not at the point where many national economies are powered by their own locally-generated renewable sources of energy.If Australia's transport systems and vehicles, its heavy industry, its mines, and its households and businesses, were powered by different sources of renewable energy that were dispersed and decentralised across the country, we wouldn't have to worry so much about oil fields in the Middle East.But our global energy system is still heavily powered by fossil fuels like crude oil, gas, and coal. And that means the fortunes of national economies are still held hostage by global oil and gas markets, as well as warmongering governments and corporations.In this global fossil-fuel system, experience has taught us that major energy supply shocks can lead to stagflation.It's why experts have warned about the possibility of stagflation in recent years when the global energy system has taken a big hit from two different wars (e.g inflation) through the global system which spurred major cost-of-living crises. It was the original textbook episode of "stagflation." It led to deep recessions, rising unemployment, and high inflation in multiple countries simultaneously, including in Australia.Major energy supply shocks cause two negative things to happen at once that are very difficult to manage.They damage an economy's ability to function (because they disrupt its energy supply) and they send much higher prices through the system (i.e