From a neoliberal point of view which promotes small government, balanced budgets and inflation targeting, the economic policy of successive governments had left the domestic economy sheltered and unresponsive to consumers; inflation, which was more than ten per cent a year throughout the 1970s, was high by the standards of the country's major trading partners; and there was a persistent fiscal deficit. It was thought a large part of the economy was controlled by regulation, some arbitrary or inconsistent. The post-war political consensus had produced stability but Douglas viewed this as being at the cost of innovation. Both major political parties maintained the high levels of protection introduced by the First Labour Government from 1936 onwards, and since 1945 both parties had aimed at maintaining full employment. However, beneficiaries of the regulated economy had flourished in both public and private sectors.