Hayami and Ruttan compare the agricultural development histories of Japan and the United States to illustrate the validity of the theory.Japan experienced increasingly higher priced land compared to labor and stressed the development of biological technologies such as improved seeds and fertilizers. These technologies tend to save land and use labor more intensively. The United States, on the other hand, has approximately two times as much land per worker as does Japan. As
the U.S. frontier was moved west, land became relatively abundant compared to labor, and the development of mechanical technologies thatsaved labor was stressed. The result was successful agricultural development in both countries, but agricultural output per worker is 10 timesgreater in the United States than in Japan while output per hectare is 10 times greater in Japan than in the United States.