The studies under review generally draw upon the “meta-production” function
hypothesis developed by Hayami and Ruttan (see Figure l), which provides
a useful framework for looking at global supply and productivity issues. The
hypothesis states that all countries have access to the same technology, that each
country can produce a given level of output using different factor proportions, and
that human capital is what allows countries to produce at the technologically most
efficient levels at a point in time. Countries lacking sufficient human capital are
not able to exploit the new technologies.