What this is
Zesht asks one question of any rule, subsidy or mandate: what happens next? Not what was promised, and not what the press release says — what homeowners, landlords, students, teachers, investors and shoppers actually do once the incentives change.
It is an explainer site with interactive tools and a short weekly email. It describes itself as neither Republican nor Democratic media, and it does not grade intentions. It examines results.
The framework
- People respond to incentives.
- Prices contain information.
- Every subsidy has an incidence: someone receives it, someone finances it, and sometimes a producer captures it.
- Supply matters. More money to buy something does not automatically create more of it.
- Local knowledge matters.
- Competition is information. When people leave, that exit is feedback.
- Intentions are not outcomes.
Tools you can run yourself
- Ten houses: a subsidy-versus-supply simulator. Give every buyer $100,000 when there are still only ten houses, and see where the money ends up.
- Rent control lock-in calculator: why moving to a smaller apartment can cost more than staying in a larger rent-controlled one.
What it is not
Not a case against government. Zesht states plainly that government can correct genuine market failures, provide public goods and write the rules markets need. The question it keeps asking is what happens after the rule is written.
Written and reviewed by Pouyan Golshani, MD, Interventional Radiologist — Last updated June 12, 2026
Part of the GigHz library: systems doctors were never taught.