In this paper we establish the proof-theoretic equivalence of (i) $\hbox {\sf ATR}$ and $\widehat{\hbox{\sf ID}}_{\omega}$ , (ii) $\hbox{\sf ATR}_0+ (\Sigma^1_1-\hbox{\sf DC})$ and $\widehat{\hbox {\sf ID}}_{<\omega^\omega} , and (iii) $\hbox {\sf ATR}+(\Sigma^1_1-\hbox{\sf DC})$ and $\widehat{\hbox {\sf ID}}_{<\varepsilon_0} $.

Simpson has claimed that “ATR0 is the weakest set of axioms which permits the development of a decent theory of countable ordinals” [8]. This paper provides empirical support for Simpson's claim. In particular, Cantor's Normal Form Theorem and Sherman's Inequality for countable well-orderings are both equivalent to ATR0. The proofs of these results require a substantial development of ordinal exponentiation and a strengthening of the comparability result in [3].

Universes of types were introduced into constructive type theory by Martin-Löf [12]. The idea of forming universes in type theory is to introduce a universe as a set closed under a certain specified ensemble of set constructors, say $\mathcal{C}$ . The universe then “reflects” $\mathcal{C}$ .This is the first part of a paper which addresses the exact logical strength of a particular such universe construction, the so-called superuniverse due to Palmgren (cf. [16, 18, 19]).It is proved that Martin-Löf type theory (...) with a superuniverse, termed MLS, is a system whose proof-theoretic ordinal resides strictly above the Feferman-Schütte ordinal $\Gamma_0$ but well below the Bachmann-Howard ordinal. Not many theories of strength between $\Gamma_0$ and the Bachmann-Howard ordinal have arisen. MLS provides a natural example for such a theory. (shrink)