The Enterprise Zone concept has made solid progress on both sides of the Atlantic since it was unveiled in a 1978 speech by Sir Geoffrey Howe, MP, now the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Mrs. Thatcher's Conservative government. A means of stimulating economic development in depressed urban areas by encouraging local entrepreneurs through tax and regulatory relief, the approach marks a radical departure from the government expenditure programs of the 1960s and 1970s.