Fake Eclipse Sunglasses

Like many, I will stop my day to experience the solar eclipse on Monday. Many will regret it. As the WSJ reports, they will have stared up at the sun thinking their eyes were protected by special sunglasses that "can filter out tens of thousands of times as much light from the sun as sunglasses." Instead, they will be exposing their eyes to potential harm from counterfeits.

Mr. Jerit said some dealers on Amazon have created copycat versions of his company's Soluna brand of eclipse glasses, sold by GSM Sales LLC. He says the knockoff Solunas are replicas down to the logo, design and product information printed on the frames, and often are sold at much lower prices. A pack of 10 legitimate Soluna eclipse viewers cost $39.95 on Amazon as of Aug. 4

This is a case of a very large and very temporary expansion in demand. Supply cannot increase fast enough making price rise temporarily. But even more, the new temporary demanders are not as discerning about quality as the traditional customers. These are the characteristics that permit moral hazard. With a higher price, there is room low cost producers to enter temporarily with sub-standard products.

I am predicting that ophthalmologists will be busy over the next few months.