ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Li Keqiang index

The Li Keqiang Index is a way that economists use to measure the economic growth of China. China is a very big country with lots of people and lots of things happening all the time, so it can be hard to figure out how well the economy is doing overall. That's where the Li Keqiang Index comes in.

The Index is named after a man named Li Keqiang, who is the Premier of China. He came up with this way of measuring the economy when he was the governor of a province in China. The idea is to look at three important things that affect the economy: electricity use, railroad cargo, and bank loans. These three things can help us understand how much people are buying, making, and selling in China.

Here's how it works: when people are buying lots of things, like clothes or toys, factories need to make more of those things. They use electricity to power their machines, and so when people are buying more, they use more electricity. When factories make more things, they need to send them all over the country, and they do that by putting them on trains. So when factories are making more things, they send more things on trains. Finally, when people and companies want to buy things but don't have enough money, they borrow money from banks. So when people and companies are buying lots of things, they borrow more money from banks.

So the Li Keqiang Index looks at how much electricity is being used, how much cargo is being carried on trains, and how much money is being borrowed from banks. By looking at these three things, economists can get a good idea of how well the economy is doing overall. If lots of electricity is being used, lots of cargo is being carried on trains, and lots of money is being borrowed from banks, that means the economy is doing well. If not, that means the economy might be struggling a bit.