Abstract The article focuses on surrogates in income theory as proposed by researcher A.D. Barton. Barton's recent article on income theory contains several conceptual errors and incomplete analytical formulations, which negate the substance of certain conclusions. Barton's central theme is that both ex post and ex ante income concepts are needed for effective decision making. Barton introduces a collateral argument regarding the relationship between certain ex post and ex ante income concepts. Barton asserts that a rather lengthy tradition in the income theory literature is false. Specifically, Barton claims that certain current value measurement systems do not constitute even a potential surrogate for ex ante economic income. Barton's analysis misses the central point of this prior literature, substitutes assertion in place of the evidence called for by previous authors and obscures issues that were clarified carefully in past research. A major portion of Barton's conclusions rest on his examination of the relationship between asset market prices and net present values.
Lawrence Revsine (Thu,) studied this question.