I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. We typically think of deregulation as applying to business, but a new report, "Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival," by Paul S. Grogan and Tony Proscio from the Westview Press, shows it works in urban policy too.
Religiously based local charities and thousands of community development corporations are leveraging public and private funds to build and renovate houses and rundown commercial strips, and are runing day care centers and charter schools.
The Market Economy is returning to the inner city through new supermarkets, clothing stores and small businesses — often started by entrepreneurial immigrants.
The shift in police tactics to target not just crime but disorder — the so-called broken windows theory — has lowered crime rates.
Finally, there's the deregulation of the inner city though reform of public housing, welfare and the public school system.
These trends have helped reduce inner city poverty — which fell more than two percentage points last year to its lowest level since 1979. Deregulation works again.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you next time.