In the mid-1970s the New Zealand economy entered a phase of instablility. Two oil crises, balance-of-payment difficulties, erratic economic growth, the end of full employment and rising inflation created a challenging climate in which policy-makers had to work. This graph shows changes in inflation over time. The period of greatest inflation occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to attempt to control it through price and wage freezes. The Reserve Bank unsuccessfully warned Muldoon against implementing these policies.