Let $(X, \mathcal B, m)$ be a measure space.  For $1 \leq p < q \leq \infty$, under what condition is it true that $L^q(X, \mathcal B, m) \subset L^p(X, \mathcal B, m)$ and what is a counterexample in the case the condition is not satisfied?

  Theorem Let $X$ be a finite measure space. Then, for any $1\leq p< q\leq +\infty$ $$L^q(X, \mathcal B, m) \subset L^p(X, \mathcal B, m).$$ The proof follows from Hölder inequality. Note that $\frac{1}{p}=\frac{1}{q}+\frac{1}{r}$, with $r>0$. Hence $$\|f\|_{L^p}\leq\text{meas }(X)^{1/r}\|f\|_{L^q}.$$


The case reported on the Wikipedia link of commenter answer follows from this, since of course, if $X$ does not contain sets of arbitrary large measure, $X$ itself can't have an arbitrary large measure.

For the counterexample: $f(x)=\frac{1}{x}$ belongs to $L^2([1,+\infty))$, but clearly it does not belong to $L^1([1,+\infty)).$ 

ADD 

I  would like to add other lines to this interesting topic. Namely, I would like to prove what is mentioned in Wikipedia, hope it is correct:


  Theorem Suppose $(X,\mathcal B,m)$ is a measure space such that, for any $1\leq p<q\leq +\infty,$ $$L^q(X, \mathcal B, m) \subset L^p(X, \mathcal B, m).$$ Then $X$ doesn't contain sets of arbitrarily large measure.


Indeed it is well defined the embedding operator $G:L^q(X, \mathcal B, m) \to L^p(X, \mathcal B, m)$, and it is bounded.

Indeed the inclusion $L^q(X,\mathcal B,m)\subset L^p(X,\mathcal B,m)$ is continuous. Convergence in $L^p$ and in $L^q$ imply convergence almost everywhere and we can conclude by the closed graph theorem.

By Hölder inequality, $$\|f\|_{L^p}\leq\text{meas }(X)^{1/r}\|f\|_{L^q}.$$ This means $$\|G\|\leq \text{meas}(X)^{1/r}=\text{meas}(X)^{1/p-1/q}.$$ But, considering $f(x)=\chi_X(x)$, one sees that $$\|G\|=\text{meas }(X)^{1/r}<+\infty \Leftrightarrow \text{meas }(X)<+\infty.$$ Now we can proceed by density of the vector space of the simple functions in both $L^p(X,\mathcal B,m)$ and $L^q(X,\mathcal B,m).$


  Theorem Let $(X,\mathcal B,m)$ be a measure space. Then $X$ doesn't contain sets of arbitrarily small measure if and only if for any $1\leq p<q\leq +\infty$, one has $$L^p(X, \mathcal B, m) \subset L^q(X, \mathcal B, m).$$


Let us suppose that, for any subset $Y\subseteq X,\quad Y\in\mathcal B$, we have $0<\alpha\leq\text{meas}(Y)$.

It sufficies to prove the statement for simple functions. Pick now $$f(x) =\sum_{j=1}^n a_j\chi_{E_j},$$ where $\{E_j\}_{j=1,\dots,n}$ is a collection of disjoint subsets of $\mathcal B.$ Then $$\|f\|_{L^q} \le \sum_{j=1}^n \|a_j\text{meas}(E_j)\|_{L^q} = \sum_{j=1}^n a_j\text{meas}(E_j)^{1/q}=\sum_{j=1}^n a_j\text{meas}(E_j)^{1/q-1/p+1/p}\leq\frac{1}{\alpha^{1/p-1/q}}\|f\|_{L^p}.$$

The first inequality is due to Minkowski inequality.

For the converse of the theorem note that again it is well defined the embedding operator $G:L^p(X,\mathcal B,m)\to L^q(X,\mathcal B,m)$, and the operator is bounded. Now consider that, for any subset $Y\subset X$, $Y\in\mathcal B$, the function $$g_Y(x)=\frac{\chi_Y(x)}{(\text{meas(Y)})^{1/p}}$$ satisfies $$\|g_Y\|_{L^q}= \frac{1}{(\text{meas}(Y))^{1/p-1/q}}. $$
But then, for any $Y\subset X$, $Y\in\mathcal B$, we have $$\frac{1}{(\text{meas}(Y))^{1/p-1/q}}\leq \|G\|,$$ which means $$0<\frac{1}{\|G\|^{1/p-1/q}}\leq \text{meas}(Y).$$ Hence the result is proved.
