Axioms for Lexicographic Preferences

This paper characterizes lexicographic preferences on a product set using axioms which avoid direct reference to the hierarchical importance ordering of the sets in the product. It is closely related to the paper by Plott, Little and Parks [8] whose Axiom 6 is similar to our Axiom 3 which isolates the non-compensatory nature of lexicographic preferences, and whose Theorem 1 foreshadows the main theorem below. Our starting point is identified by the following axiom.