But so long as a lawyer may stay in the same place for decades, the firms have to confront the costs of a relaxed approach to pay and retention. They respond by making their associates compete and then showing most of them the door. It is another example of how economic forces can shape the space allowed to
antieconomic norms
; perhaps the norms themselves may be said to compete.
Source: p 157-158, The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth
I guess that Definition 2 applies here, but how does this make sense? Here, I'm venturing that norms refers only to antieconomic norms
, so how can [the same norms] compete with [the same norms]?