On the extension of binary relations in economic and game theories

Abstract

Szpilrajn’s extension theorem on binary relations and its strengthening by Dushnik and Miller are fundamental in economic and game theories. Szpilrajn’s result entails that each partial order extends to a linear order. Dushnik and Miller use Szpilrajn’s theorem to show that each partial order has a realizer. Since then, many authors utilize Szpilrajn’s theorem and the well-ordering principle to prove more general theorems on extending binary relations. The original extension theorems of Szpilrajn, Dushnik-Miller and Moulin-Weymark are called: Szpilrajn extension theorem, Dushnik-Miller extension theorem and Moulin-Weymark’s Pareto extension theorem respectively. The generalizations of these theorems are called: Szpilrajn-type extension theorem, Dushnik-Miller-type extension theorem and Moulin-Weymark’s Pareto-type extension theorem respectively. The presented results generalize well-known extension theorems in the literature.