摘要：In this paper, we look at the pace at which firms adjust their
employment levels as a measure of “microeconomic flexibility.” Flexibility
aids in creative destruction processes, where less efficient establishments
recede and dynamic firms can rapidly expand. Following the techniques
used by Caballero, Engel, and Micco (2004), we use firm-level data from
India and Pakistan to estimate the proportion of the gap closed in a year
between desired and actual employment. The results for the proportion of
the gap closed for India were 0.46 in 2001 and 0.45 in 2000. For Pakistan,
we estimated the proportion of the gap closed as 0.2 in 2001 and 0.53 in
2000. The results for 2001 were much lower than expected (and lower than
previous estimates for both countries), possibly due to the events of 9/11.
Pakistan compared favorably to India in various key sectors, including
chemicals, food processing, and garments. Exporters did not seem to have a
quicker speed of adjustment.
