Assume the standard empty-coalition normalization . A convex cooperative game has increasing marginal contributions: whenever and ,This follows from the supermodular inequality applied to and . Fix a permutation of all players, let be the players preceding , and form its marginal contribution vectorSumming along the full permutation is a telescoping sum, so . For an arbitrary coalition , list its members in their induced order , and put . Since , increasing marginal contributions giveThus every marginal contribution vector belongs to the core. The vector of Shapley values is exactly their uniform average over the permutations, hence a convex combination. By the preceding part, that average is in the core. This proves that the Shapley value allocation belongs to the core of a convex cooperative game, including every coalition constraint. It is the result Shapley value belongs to the core of a convex game.
Use the usual empty-coalition normalization for a transferable utility game. Write , so the proposed payoff is the marginal contributionThe vector is the marginal contribution vector for the natural player order.
First, convex cooperative games have increasing marginal contributions. If and , apply the defining supermodular set function inequality to and :Rearranging gives
The vector is efficient by a telescoping sum:Now fix any coalition . For each , its earlier members are . Increasing marginal contributions therefore giveSum over the members of in increasing order. The right-hand side is another telescoping sum, now along the growing coalition :Efficiency and these inequalities for every coalition are exactly the defining requirements of the core of a cooperative game. Thus belongs to the core. The same proof works for any player ordering, not only the natural order.
The normalization is essential to the literal statement: the printed part does not explicitly state it. Without , take the constant characteristic function of a coalitional game . It satisfies the displayed convex cooperative game inequality with equality, but every proposed is zero, so efficiency fails when is nonempty. Under the standard normalized definition, the proof above establishes the intended result.