Why Drive an Hour to Buy a Handbag?
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.
Zesht principle
Intentions are not outcomes
A policy can be well intentioned and still produce bad incentives. A policy can also impose real costs while solving a genuine problem. Zesht does not grade intentions. It examines results.
California Tried to Control Insurance Prices. What Happens When Insurers Stop Selling Insurance?
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
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.
What If Education Money Followed the Student?
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.
The rest of the framework
Other principles
People respond to incentives
Change the cost or reward attached to an action and people change their behavior.
Every subsidy has an incidence
Someone receives the benefit, someone finances it, and sometimes a producer captures it.