State-based think tanks proliferated during the 1990s, bringing free markets, limited government, and conservative principles to policy debates in state capitals across the country. Delving down still deeper, some of these groups began to set up local offices and do important work on city and regional issues. In a few cases — most obviously the Manhattan Institute in New York City — think tanks with a primary focus on local or metropolitan affairs began to appear.

Perhaps this decade will see a further trend towards the local. The latest example is San Diego, the nation’s eighth-largest city. Steve Francis, who runs a health-care firm and ran for mayor in 2005, has announced the creation of the San Diego Institute for Policy Research. It will study issues such as city government reform, pensions, privatization, and economic development. It will also commission regular polls.