Last week in part one of this series we heard about the long and strange history of

eyeglasses.

What we often see in early arts are representations of the devil wearing spectacles.

And we learned how today the 150 billion dollar eyewear industry has one dominant player, a French Italian conglomerate called

Eselor Luxotica.

They have full control over prices and that's just a license to meant money for them.

We also heard how challengers, like Warby Parker, are trying to change the economics of the industry.

When we had this idea to sell eyewear for a fraction of the cost. People love that idea.

Today, on Freakonomics Radio in part two of our series.

We learn about the massive rise of myopia,

the even more massive rise of China as an eyeglass market and what an eye

doctor knows that you don't know. I always tell people you don't compromise on

parachutes or eyeglasses.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

We ask whether intense consolidation in an industry like eyewear could be a threat to

democracy itself. If people feel a tiny group of consolidated industries

and their beneficiaries make all the money, it tends to create a lot of widespread anger.

The surprising economics of the eyeglass industry, part two, beginning now. This is Freakanomics Radio, the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything with your host Stephen Dubner. Tim Wu is a law professor at Columbia. He has also been in both the Obama

and Biden administrations an advocate of stronger antitrust legislation.

Wu argues that too many industries have just one or two dominant players which can push up prices. This would include the eyeglass industry.

It has to compare itself with other obscene margin takers like the pharmaceutical drug industry.

The specific target of Wu's criticism here is Eslor Luxotica which

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