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Economic Affairs

The Four Talent Giants

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Cover of the book "The Four Talent Giants"

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.

This title is forthcoming in July 2025.

Advance praise for The Four Talent Giants:

"The Four Talent Giants is a wonderful book, full of new ideas and, especially, comparative empirical research. Gi-Wook Shin's ambitious treatment of the topic of human capital, or 'talent,' in the context of a globalized economy is very important and reading it will be a rewarding exercise for scholars, politicians, corporate leaders, and many others."
—Nirvikar Singh, University of California, Santa Cruz

"The current scholarly literature offers multiple country-specific talent formation studies, including those on the transformative role of skilled migration. However, few authors have dared to attempt a thorough cross-national analysis, comparing the nature and impact of policies across highly variable geopolitical contexts. The Four Talent Giants achieves this goal triumphantly, and accessibly, assessing the global implications of national experimentation for effective talent portfolio management."
—Lesleyanne Hawthorne, University of Melbourne
 

Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center

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Books
March 2015

Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea

Author(s)
Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea
Working Papers
February 2018

From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation and Linkage

Author(s)
From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation and Linkage
Journal Articles
August 2024

Toward a Portfolio Theory of Talent Development

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Toward a Portfolio Theory of Talent Development
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Books
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National Strategies for Human Resource Development Across Japan, Australia, China, and India

Authors
Gi-Wook Shin
Book Publisher
Stanford University Press
Book Publisher External URL

Financial market exposure increases generalized trust

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How can we build trust, especially in polarized societies? We propose that exposure to broad financial markets—where individuals place their assets in the hands of large groups of unfamiliar agents who nonetheless have the incentive and ability to promote their interests—can contribute to generalized trust. In a randomized controlled trial, we encourage Israelis to hold or trade stocks for up to seven weeks. We find that participation in financial markets increases the probability of expressing generalized trust by about 6 percentage points, equivalent to a quarter of the control group mean. The effects seem to be driven by political partisans along the left–right spectrum in Israel, and are robust to negative price changes. Thus, trust is not only a cause but can also be an effect of participation in financial markets.

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Journal Articles
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Journal of Public Economics
Authors
Saumitra Jha
Moses Shayo
Chagai Weiss
Number
February 2025, 105303

Estimating the Impact of Rural Hukou Status on Earnings for College Graduates in China

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A growing body of literature explores the effect of higher education on the urban–rural divide in China. Despite an increasing number of rural students gaining access to college, little is known about their performance in college or their job prospects after graduation. Using nationally representative data from over 40,000 urban and rural college students, we examine rural students’ college performance and estimate the impact of rural status on students’ first job wages in comparison to their urban peers. Our results indicate that once accepted into college, rural students perform equally as well, if not better, than their urban counterparts. Additionally, we discovered that rural students earn a 6.2 per cent wage premium compared to their urban counterparts in their first job after graduation. Our findings suggest the importance of expanding access to higher education for rural students, as it appears to serve as an equalizer between urban and rural students despite their significantly different backgrounds.

Journal Publisher
The China Quarterly
Authors
Huan Wang
Huan Wang
Claire Cousineau
Claire Cousineau
Matthew Boswell
Matthew Boswell
Hongbin Li
Hongbin Li

Global Capitalism, Trust and Accountability Conference

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The Program on Capitalism and Democracy
presents a two-day conference
Co-sponsored by the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL)

Global Capitalism, Trust, and Accountability conference

Are democratic governments equipped and willing to hold global capital accountable, and does their failure to do so affect citizens’ trust?

Global capitalism has reshaped trade, economic priorities, and financial flows — and, in doing so, has also transformed societies and politics. However, the transnational nature of global capital has presented an intellectual and policy challenge as corporate activities and corruption adapt to the global environment. While activists, journalists, and scholars have investigated and publicized these issues, much work remains to develop coherent analytical understandings of these problems.  

Democratic governments often struggle to establish and enforce proper rules for corporate malfeasance and corruption. Domestic regulations present jurisdictional challenges, and corporate law, which enables corporations, has yet to be effective in preventing them and their leaders from dodging accountability in global markets. The world of global capital is opaque, designed explicitly to hide assets or evade the reach of governments. The financialization of the global economy has expanded the power not only of banks but also of professional services that facilitate ties between wealthy individuals, political leaders, and tax havens or shelters.

This conference brings together scholars across the disciplines of law, business, social sciences, and history, as well as practitioners and journalists, to explore the challenge of creating trust and accountability in a system dominated by global capitalism. In convening together, we aim to advance research, education, and policy on these critical issues.

Organizers

Anat Admati (George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics, GSB, and Faculty Director of the Capitalism and Democracy Program at CDDRL) and Didi Kuo (Center Fellow, CDDRL)

Anat R. Admati Anat Admati

Anat R. Admati

Didi Kuo Didi Kuo

Didi Kuo

FRIDAY, APRIL 4

 

1:30 - 1:45 — Introduction and Opening Remarks
 

  • Anat Admati, George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business
  • Didi Kuo, Center Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Kathryn Stoner, Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
  • Peter DeMarzo, Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Business (Interim)


1:45 - 3:15 pm Session 1 — Why Trustworthy Governments are Essential
 

Global capitalism works best for society if governments can be trusted to provide public goods and set and enforce proper rules to enable markets and corporations to succeed while protecting human rights and the environment. This panel examines the historical development of capitalism and explores what it takes for governments to earn the trust needed. It also reflects on how global capitalism today may enable corruption and undermine trust in democratic governments.

Panelists:

  • Vic Khanna (Michigan Law)
  • Naomi Lamoreaux (Yale History)
  • Alexander Cooley (Barnard Political Science)


Discussant: Rick Messick (Global Anticorruption Blog)
Moderator: Curtis Milhaupt (Stanford Law)

3:15 - 3:45 — Break

 

3:45 - 5:15 pm — Session 2: Opacity and Illicit Flows


The financialization and globalization of capital have increased opportunities for illicit financial flows, money laundering, and corruption. How should scholars conceptualize and measure these problems and the harm they cause? What is the role of anonymous and multinational corporations and secrecy jurisdictions in facilitating, exacerbating, and growing opportunities to evade laws? What is the role of cryptocurrencies?

Panelists:

  • Dan Neilson (UT Austin Political Science)
  • Gary Kalman (Transparency International US)
  • Brooke Harrington (Dartmouth Sociology)
     

Discussant: Mark Weidemaier (UNC Law)
Moderator: Louise Story (journalist, author, media leader)
 

5:30 - 6:30 pm — Virtual Keynote


Tom Wright
Co-author of the New York Times bestseller, 'Billion Dollar Whale;' Wall Street Journal's Asia Economics Editor (2013 - 2019); and Co-Founder of Project Brazen, the production studio that launched the hit podcast, 'Fat Leonard.'
 

6:30 — Reception and Dinner
 


SATURDAY, APRIL 5
 

8:00 - 8:30 am — Breakfast
 

8:30 - 9:15 am — Keynote


Judge Jed Rakoff
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York since 2010

9:15 - 10:45 am — Session 3: The Law and Politics of Fighting Corruption


Can governments and global institutions address corruption, defined as the abuse of power in its many forms, within and across jurisdictions through laws? This panel examines the mechanisms and tools that are available to prosecutors and policymakers to investigate and penalize corruption in the private sector and government. It also explores the political challenge of ensuring that the legal tools are available and utilized properly to reduce corruption.

Panelists:

  • Kevin Davis (NYU Law)
  • Gerhard Schick (co-founder and co-head of Finanzwende Recherche)
  • John Githongo (Anti-corruption activist)
     

Discussant: Vikrant Vig (GSB)
Moderator: Luigi Zingales (Chicago)

10:45 - 11:15 am — Break
 

11:15 am -12:45 pm — Session 4: Greed, Norms, Culture, and Trust


Norms and culture, both in corporations, in government bodies, and in society at large, play a significant role in promoting trust and preventing misconduct. Global capitalism reflects norms, but it also reshapes them. This panel investigates the challenges that arise in building cultural norms in a global context.

Panelists:

  • Norman Eisen (Brookings)
  • Peter Solmssen (Former Managing Board Member and General Counsel Siemens AG)
  • Miriam Baer (Brooklyn Law)
     

Discussant: Paola Sapienza (Hoover Institution)
Moderator: Didi Kuo (CDDRL)

12:45 - 1:45 pm Lunch
 

1:45 - 3:15 pm — Session 5: Corporate Misconduct and the Law


What are the tools for deterring corporate misconduct, and are these tools being used effectively? This panel of experts on white-collar crime will explain why laws and enforcement mechanisms may fail to deter corporate misconduct and why corporate leaders are rarely appropriately held accountable. What is the interplay of institutions, politics, and power that undermines the rule of law in the corporate context?

Panelists:

  • Ellen S. Podgor (Stetson Law School)
  • Elizabeth Pollman (Penn Law School)
  • Fabio De Pasquale (Prosecutor, Milan Italy)
     

Discussant: Jennifer Taub (Wayne Law School)
Moderator: Anat Admati (GSB)

3:15 -3:45 pm — Break
 

3:45 -5:15 pm — Session 6 (Round Table): What Academics, Activists, and the Media Can Do


This roundtable will enable all participants to brainstorm how academics, activists, and journalists can work together to accomplish shared goals around global capitalism and accountability. How are each sector's resources, voices, and contributions best deployed? How might individuals and organizations align their work and objectives? And most importantly, how might we create a more trustworthy and fair economic system for the 21st century?

Moderator: Bethany McLean (Journalist, author)

5:15 - 5:30 pm — Closing Remarks
 

5:30 pm — Reception and Dinner

In-person: By invitation only.

Virtual: Open to the public

Conferences
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Demand for Commitment in Credit and Saving Contracts: A Field Experiment

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We conduct a field experiment in which we offer credit and saving contracts to the same pool of Pakistani microfinance clients. Additional treatments test ex-ante demand for soft commitment (in the form of reminders, either to respondents or to their families), hard commitment (in the form of a penalty for missing an installment), and flexibility (an option to postpone an installment) to save or pay loan installments on time. We find substantial demand for fixed repayment contracts in both the credit and savings domains in ways that imply that respondents value the commitment required. While we find little or no average demand for additional contractual features, we nonetheless observe that different combinations of contractual add-ons are preferred depending on the respondent’s level of financial discipline. Respondents with high financial discipline prefer flexibility in credit contracts when combined with reminders to self, while those with low discipline value penalties in savings contracts only when paired with reminders. Our results imply that, for the average microfinance client, demand for commitment is met through the regular payment schedule built into standard microcredit or commitment savings contracts. However, combining penalties or flexibility with reminders may appeal to certain subsets of clients.

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Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Journal Publisher
The Economic Journal
Authors
Uzma Afzal
Giovanna d’Adda
Marcel Fafchamps
Simon Quinn
Farah Said
Number
Issue 664

Katherine Casey

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Professor of Political Economy, Stanford GSB
Faculty Director, Stanford King Center on Global Development
headshot_casey_-_katherine_e_casey.jpg

Katherine Casey is Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Faculty Director of the King Center on Global Development. Her research explores the interactions between economic and political forces in developing countries, with particular interest in the role of information in enhancing political accountability and the influence of foreign aid on economic development. Her work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, among others. 

CDDRL Affiliated Faculty
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Does Chinese Industrial Policy Work? A Big Data China Event

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Big Data China logo

The event will be webcast live from this page.

In this online event, set for November 19, 6:30-7:30 am US PT, the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) and the CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics are releasing a new Big Data China feature that reviews recent literature evaluating the successes and failures of industrial policy in China and the conditions that shaped policy outcomes.

Trustee Chair Deputy Director Ilaria Mazzocco will moderate a discussion among experts on industrial policy in China today and its implications for the Chinese economy, global trade, and how policymakers in other countries should respond. Panelists will include Lee Branstetter (Carnegie Mellon University), Panle Jia Barwick (UW-Madison), Chloé Papazian (OECD), and Gerard DiPippo (Bloomberg Economics).  

FEATURING

Panle Jia Barwick
Todd E. and Elizabeth H. Warnock Distinguished Chair and Professor, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison		Ilaria Mazzocco
Senior Fellow, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics
Lee Branstetter
James Walton Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University		Gerard DiPippo
Senior Geo-Economics Analyst, Bloomberg Economics
Chloé Papazian
Trade Policy Analyst, Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD		 

EVENT PARTNERS
 

SCCEI and CSIS logos

Virtual Livestream 

Panle Jia Barwick
Lee Branstetter
Gerard DiPippo
Ilaria Mazzocco
Chloé Papazian
Panel Discussions
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Eugene Kandel — Making Israel Viable Again: Rethinking Israeli Economics, Governance, and Society

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Eugene Kandel webinar

As Head of Israel’s National Economic Council between 2009 and 2015 Professor Eugene Kandel possessed a unique insider’s view into the fundamental structure of the Israeli economy and the most powerful trends shaping its society and politics. By 2023 Kandel was so alarmed by what he observed happening to those fundamentals that he warned of the collapse of the Israeli economy (and with it the state) if Israel did not fundamentally rethink its social contract and governance structure.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Eugene Kandel is the founder and chairman of RISE Israel Institute, the Emil Spyer Professor of Economics and Finance at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the chairman of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. From 2009 to 2015 he served as Head of the National Economic Council and Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel, advancing significant economic policies and reforms.

Virtual Event Only.

Amichai Magen
Amichai Magen

Virtual Only Event.

Eugene Kandel
Seminars
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Democracy Dilemma: Business Leadership in an Era of Rising Autocracies

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Bill Browder event

In an era of rising autocracy, Bill Browder, the bestselling author of Red Notice and Freezing Order, brings his unparalleled expertise to the forefront. Join the Program on Capitalism and Democracy for a discussion on how business leaders can safeguard democratic principles while navigating increasingly challenging political landscapes. 

Browder's firsthand experiences combating corruption in Russia and beyond offer valuable lessons for today's global business environment. His story exemplifies how business leaders can leverage their influence to shape policy, champion justice, and uphold democratic ideals—even when confronted with grave personal and professional risks.

This event is co-sponsored by the Corporations and Society Initiative (CASI) at the Graduate School of Business and the Program on Capitalism and Democracy at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sir William (Bill) Browder KCMG was once the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia until being declared “a threat to national security” in 2005 for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.

In 2008, Bill’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials stealing US $230 million of state taxes and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial, and systematically tortured.

Sergei Magnitsky died in prison on November 16, 2009. Ever since, Sir William has led the Global Magnitsky Campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials, introducing the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012, & the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 2016. Which has since been adopted by 11 countries, including the U.S., UK, Canada, and New Zealand.

For his exceptional service to the UK abroad and internationally, in recognition of his significant and sustained contribution to human rights and anti-corruption, he was appointed by King Charles in the 2024 Birthday Honours List a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).

Rachel Hersh, MBA '25

In-person: GSB Knight Management Center, C102 (657 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford)
Online: Via Zoom

Bill Browder
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Valentin Bolotnyy Named to California Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors

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Hoover Institution
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News
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Bolotnyy, an economist, affiliated scholar with CDDRL's Deliberative Democracy Lab, and Kleinheinz Fellow at the Hoover Institution, has joined California governor Gavin Newsom’s Council of Economic Advisors. His appointment became effective on August 22, 2024.

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