Protection of private property rights plays a big role in explaining the difference between inner cities that have thrived and those that have declined in recent decades. A Baltimore-based economist made that argument Monday to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society.

Drawing from his book Boom Towns: Restoring the Urban American Dream, economics professor Stephen Walters of Loyola University Maryland contrasted cities like San Francisco and Boston that have thrived in recent decades with his current hometown.

Walters says one key difference is caps on property tax rates in California and Massachusetts that have encouraged capital to flow back into big cities from the suburbs. In the video clip below, Walters summarizes his key argument.

Click here to watch the full 53:00 presentation.