The Asia-Pacific region has seen extraordinary economic achievements. Japan's post-World War II transformation into an economic powerhouse challenging US dominance by the late 1980s was miraculous. China's rise as the world's second-largest economy is one of the 21st century's most stunning stories. India, now a top-five economy by GDP, is rapidly ascending. Despite its small population, Australia ranked among the top ten GDP nations in 1960 and has remained resilient. While cultivating, attracting, and leveraging talent has been crucial to growth in these countries, their approaches have varied widely, reflecting significant cultural, historical, and institutional differences.

In this sweeping analysis of talent development strategies, Gi-Wook Shin investigates how these four "talent giants'' achieved economic power and sustained momentum by responding to risks and challenges such as demographic crises, brain drain, and geopolitical tensions. This book offers invaluable insights for policymakers and is essential for scholars, students, and readers interested in understanding the dynamics of talent and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in Sociology and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, as well as the director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. Shin is the author or editor of twenty-five books, including Korean Democracy in Crisis: The Threats of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization (2022) and Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War (Stanford, 2016).