China’s economic growth, though still strong by some countries’ standards, has slowed to rates unseen in a quarter-century, and it is expected to flag further in 2019. Some economists project rates between 6% and 6.3%, down from about 6.5% in 2018; others say real growth has fallen to half that or lower. A big reason for the diminished outlook: Beijing is treating this downturn differently than in recent past. Gone are big-bang stimulus measures like those rolled out during the global financial crisis a decade ago. Back then, the Chinese government spent about 4 trillion yuan ($580 billion), or about 13% of the gross domestic product at the time, on infrastructure, housing and other projects as a way to prevent massive unemployment and bolster growth. This time around, the leadership is moving more cautiously, adopting a piecemeal approach to monetary and fiscal easing, while swearing off what it calls […]