China’s reform school.docVIP

China’s reform school 　　Li Keqiang is running a gaunt- let of economic indicators and fledgling reforms. The premier is ducking inflation， vaulting unemployment and shouldering a heavy set of growth statistics as he tries to break from Chinas foundering development model. It will be a miracle if he doesn’t trip on one of the numerous hazards along the way. Behind closed doors， new leaders are thought to have spent their first four months in power hammering out the parameters for how to run the worlds second-largest economy. The country’s new approach to economic policy has been variously called“Likonomics” and “Li Keqiang Put”（a call back to Federal Reserve chairmen Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan） because Li Keqiang as premier is charged with managing the economy. Chinese media has dubbed the 58-year-old’s attempt to transition the economy as the “Li Keqiang interval，”or a time of rational policymaking. Li has hard numbers guiding him this year： Keep annual GDP growth at 7.5% in 2013； hold inflation below 3.5%； stay urban unemployment at 4.6% and create more than 9 million new jobs. If that sounds too simplistic， hell also need to decrease investment’s contribution to GDP figures and tackle credit growth – both promise to be lasting threats to the economic transition – and push harder on regulators to reform China’s banking and securities markets. To the floor The essence of questionably named Likonomics isn’t in the numbers themselves. The term appears to have emerged from investment banks and is far from official. Currently， its a catchall for describing Li’s approach to economic policy， in part based on his past actions and statements. Given opaque Chinese politics， theories on Likonomics also include a heavy dose of speculation about what is happening behind the scenes. Lis strategy is to permit slower GDP growth today in order to push through substantial reforms that will benefit the economy in the future， Lu Ting at Bank of Americ