Fred Nyll S.

Tupas The Soup Monopoly

April 29, 2013

In the episode The Soup Nazi of the show Seinfeld, Jerry and the gang came across this store that sells palatable and soulful soup. However, the cook that was in-charge was very strict and temperamental, hence the name Soup Nazi. Throughout the story, the interaction between the costumers and the cook can be explained by economic concepts. I noticed that the cook had authority when it comes to his goods and services. If one did not follow the protocol he/she will not probably get any soup. In one of the scenes, Jerry and George went to the store to get buy some soup. George followed the correct procedure but he noticed that he did not receive any free bread unlike the other costumers. He complained about it and the Soup Nazi said that the bread was sold for $2 which resulted in a further protest for George. The Soup Nazi raised the cost of bread to $3 upon hearing the rants of George until eventually, he confiscated Georges soup. In economics, this is similar to monopoly power which may be easily referred to as having power over the prices of goods and services when the company is the sole supplier of these. Because of this, the company or firm can exercise price discrimination. Just as I saw in Seinfeld, the Soup Nazi sells delicious food that nowhere else can be found and that is why people would still go into so much trouble just to avail for their soup. This gives rise to power of the Soup Nazi. However, when Elaine discovered the secret recipes for the soup of this cook, a threat posed to the future of the soup stand. I think this can be considered as the collapse of the barriers to entry for the Soup Nazi because if his recipes were to spread, people would know how to do it and his stand will not be as packed and demanded as before.