# Zesht

> The ugly truth, explained. Zesht explains what actually happens after a policy is written: how people, businesses and markets respond once incentives change. Non-partisan. Follow the incentive. Follow the money. Follow the result.

Every policy article distinguishes the goal, the mechanism, the incentive, the observed result, the unintended consequences, what supporters say, what critics say, what the evidence shows and what remains uncertain, and includes a "Follow the incentive" box.

## Articles

- [What Happens When Government Subsidizes Demand but Restricts Supply?](https://zesht.com/subsidize-demand-restrict-supply/): Give every buyer $100,000 when there are still only ten houses, and the check goes to the buyer while the money goes to the seller. How much depends on one thing: supply.
- [Why Drive an Hour to Buy a Handbag?](https://zesht.com/sales-tax-los-angeles-vs-orange-county/): From October 1, Los Angeles charges 10.25% sales tax and Irvine charges 7.75%. The legal saving on a luxury purchase may be zero. The shopping still moves.
- [California Cut What It Pays for Rooftop Solar. Did It Fix the Right Problem?](https://zesht.com/california-solar-net-billing-nem-3/): Under NEM 3.0, an exported kilowatt-hour can earn a fraction of a cent at spring noon and over a dollar on an August evening. That's a price telling the truth. Is the rest of the bill?
- [California Tried to Control Insurance Prices. What Happens When Insurers Stop Selling Insurance?](https://zesht.com/california-home-insurance-crisis-fair-plan/): You can control the premium. You cannot control the risk. When the allowed price doesn't cover the risk, the response isn't cheaper insurance — it's no insurance.
- [Rent Control Can Make a Cheap Apartment Too Expensive to Leave](https://zesht.com/rent-control-lock-in-effect/): Rent control reliably helps the tenant who already has the apartment. The best evidence shows who pays for that help: the landlord who exits and the renter still searching.
- [Is Your California House Actually in a Fire Zone?](https://zesht.com/is-my-house-in-a-fire-zone-california/): California's fire map shows hazard. Your insurer prices risk. They aren't the same thing — and the difference is where a homeowner's money is made or lost.
- [Did Student Loans Make College More Expensive?](https://zesht.com/do-student-loans-raise-tuition/): The easy version says loans caused expensive college. The evidence says something more specific — and more useful: schools capture aid where buyers stop comparing prices.
- [Is Southern California “Overdue” for the Big One? What the Odds Actually Say](https://zesht.com/is-california-overdue-for-an-earthquake/): People talk about earthquakes like buses. Elapsed time does nudge the odds up — but faults keep no schedule, and your address matters more than the countdown clock.
- [What If Education Money Followed the Student?](https://zesht.com/school-funding-follow-the-student-california/): California already pays schools per student — with a lag for districts and a catch for wealthy ones. We compared LAUSD, Irvine, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica-Malibu and three charter networks.
- [Why Do Iranians Keep Finding Each Other?](https://zesht.com/why-so-many-iranians-live-in-los-angeles/): A Persian grocery, then a kebab restaurant, then six real-estate agents. Behind the joke is one of economics' most powerful forces: network effects.

## Principles

- [People respond to incentives](https://zesht.com/principles/people-respond-to-incentives/): Change the cost or reward attached to an action and people change their behavior.
- [Prices contain information](https://zesht.com/principles/prices-contain-information/): A high price can be painful without being meaningless.
- [Every subsidy has an incidence](https://zesht.com/principles/every-subsidy-has-an-incidence/): Someone receives the benefit, someone finances it, and sometimes a producer captures it.
- [Supply matters](https://zesht.com/principles/supply-matters/): More money to buy something does not automatically create more of it.
- [Local knowledge matters](https://zesht.com/principles/local-knowledge-matters/): The people closest to a decision often know things a statewide formula does not.
- [Competition is information](https://zesht.com/principles/competition-is-information/): When people leave, that exit is feedback.
- [Intentions are not outcomes](https://zesht.com/principles/intentions-are-not-outcomes/): Zesht does not grade intentions. It examines results.

## Interactive tools

- [Is the drive worth it? Sales-tax savings calculator](https://zesht.com/tools/sales-tax-drive-calculator/): Los Angeles vs. Orange County: what a lower sales-tax rate saves at the register, what the trip costs, and what California says you still owe.
- [Ten houses: subsidy vs. supply simulator](https://zesht.com/tools/subsidy-vs-supply-simulator/): Give every buyer $100,000 when there are still only ten houses. Where does the money end up?
- [What is a kilowatt-hour worth? Solar export value by hour](https://zesht.com/tools/solar-export-value/): Under California's NEM 3.0, the same exported kilowatt-hour can earn a fraction of a cent or more than a dollar. See when — and what a battery changes.
- [Rent control lock-in calculator](https://zesht.com/tools/rent-control-lock-in-calculator/): Why moving to a smaller apartment can cost more than staying in a big rent-controlled one.

## About

- [About Zesht](https://zesht.com/about/)
- [The Zesht framework](https://zesht.com/framework/)
- [Editorial standards and corrections](https://zesht.com/methodology/)