If the "superportfolio" explanation advanced in this chapter is correct, then superimposed on the flight to quality should be distinctive price movements reflecting the unraveling of the positions held by LTCM's conscious and unconscious imitators. The composition of the superportfolio is not known with any precision, but if the imitation-based explanation is correct, LTCM's portfolio should be a reasonable proxy, and its main components are known from Perold 1999 and from the testimony of interviewees. The hypothesized specific characteristic of September 1998-"run-on-the -bank" declines in the prices of assets believed to be held by LTCM-is identical in its predicted consequences to the "unraveling superportfolio" explanation.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1075