Assuming substitutability raises measured constraint and correlates the measures less.

Evidence

If we think of democracy as a proxy for the degree of constraint in a dyad, then it comes as no surprise that on average the most constraint is registered with the minimum measure. Once we assume that higher democracy scores can partially compensate for lower scores, as is the case with the geometric and arithmetic means, the average level of constraint begins to decline. And, of course, the highest average scores are produced by the maximum. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 927