Let's have a moratorium on the word "Likonomics"? Premier Li Keqiang's plans to overhaul the Chinese economy have hardly earned such a grand moniker yet.
Say what you will about "Thatchernomics" or "Reaganomics," but Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan fundamentally altered the British and American economies. No one is rolling their eyes at "Aquinomics," President Benigno Aquino's thus-far successful prescription for the Philippines, the onetime "sick man of Asia." By contrast, Likonomics is a ridiculously premature nod to ideas that are, at best, still on the drawing board and might never come off it.
In Japan, economists and a cheerleading media now seem to realize they bought into "Abenomics" too hastily, creating the myth that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's revival plan is succeeding when it has only just begun. Game-changing reform efforts take several years to implement. We are a long way from knowing if Li has the skill or political will to manhandle China onto a more sustainable growth path, led by domestic demand.