The history of the use of self-reports and the methodology of economics

The main arguments currently held for and against the use of self-reports in economics are presented in their relation to well-known events in the history of the discipline: the ‘measurement without theory’, the ‘full-cost’, and the ‘economic expectations’ controversies. Doing so, the paper highlights the so far neglected role of George Katona's behavioral economics in these methodological discussions.