Swann (industrial economics, U. of Nottingham Business School) wants to persuade fellow economists to take the vernacular of the everyday practice of economics seriously. He explains what can be learned from the vernacular, argues that taking it seriously is a natural thing for economists to do, and comments on the increasing division of labor within the discipline and the tendency to specialize on one technique.

He points out that econometrics's assumed privileged position is not supported by its frequently disappointing results; further, that place of privilege has mislead economists into having a low regard for other applied techniques, which Swann here describes as the vernacular. He offers ten approaches, including simulation, engineering economics, case studies and common sense, as alternatives and comments on what is to come in the discipline.

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