A. Allan Schmid was one of the main founders and thinkers in the Spartan School of Institutional Economics. He took a balanced and pluralistic view of the value and importance of the various approaches and methodologies. One of the key questions is the relationship between institutional economics and neoclassical (or so called orthodox) economics. Schmid, as we will see, took a very balanced and nuanced view of this relationship. This view helps set the stage for a more general exploration of institutional economics. His writing illustrates his nuanced view of these issues. Schmid writes that "orthodox economics misses many issues of power" and "neoclassical economics has focused narrowly on that part of psychology that can be captured in the concepts of utility and preferences" (Schmid, pg. 3 and 4). At the same time, Schmid is complimentary of some of the important advances in neoclassical and welfare economics, he writes that, "welfare economics ...