Hayek was an influential economist who is pro-economic liberalism. He recommended shrinking the public sector, cutting tax, and selling state assets and opposed government subsidies, import tariffs, and trade unions. During the Great Depression, Hayek suggested "monetarism," keeping a tight rein on monetary growth, only allowing the supply of money to grow slowly to ameliorate the problem. He believed that benevolent dictatorship (state interventionism) in the economy leads to inefficiencies or a totalitarian society. Thatcher's office took Hayek's ideas for economic growth and it encouraged "Reganomics," imposing tight money to curb inflation in his 1980s when Regan took his office.