The relevance of the technology choice issue for supply analysis is less
recognized. As explained in Mundlak (1984,1985a), the problem of producers
is to choose simultaneously the techniques to be implemented and the intensity
of their utilization. The traditional supply analysis deals only with the
latter aspect. The choice of techniques depends on various state variables, and
public inputs, both human and physical, are important among them. To
analyze their impact, it is desirable to select a sample with a wide spread in
such variables. Naturally, a wide spread is found in cross-country comparisons.
This seems to be the comparative advantage of a cross-country analysis.