"They search out somebody who has similar characteristics to their own, so you can imagine this theory being played out to extremes with plastic surgery, " said Dr Papadopoulos.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Couples 'having plastic surgery'

Even if our basic theory is that economy is elastic in response to nominal stress and plastic in response to real stress, a sudden change in rigidity combined with a large nominal shock could cause a very large plastic deformation in the economy.

FORBES: NGDP in the Long Run and Economic Plasticity

Monti killed that deal on a theory called conglomeratization: By buying a maker of machinery that produces rival plastic bottles, Tetra Laval could in a few years leverage its lead position in cartons to also control plastic alternatives (glass bottles and tin cans are the packaging products still out of Tetra Laval's reach).

FORBES: Two-card Monti