Arbitrage is also a crucial mechanism by which finance theory affects markets. For example, the most important channel by which the Barnesian performativity of finance theory is achieved is the use of the theory to identify, exploit, and thus diminish discrepancies between "model" and "reality." Examples include the "spreading" arbitrage in options markets that seems to have contributed to moving price patterns toward the Black-Scholes-Merton model, and the arbitrage-like exploitation of "anomalies" that helped to eliminate them.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1209