Applying the Talent Portfolio Theory: A Cross- National Historical Comparison of Japan and Korea

This paper situates itself in the broader discussion of talent flows at the national level and fulfills two objectives. The first objective is to apply Shin & Gordon’s (2024) novel Talent Portfolio Theory to outline Japan and Korea’s economic development – from their respective “miracle” periods to the modern day – through their talent policies. Surveying scholarship on the high- skilled human resource policies of Japan and Korea, I argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the two countries employed divergent human resource strategies and that their modern talent portfolios have converged in the face of demographic decline. The second objective is to provide policy recommendations for Japan and Korea’s talent portfolios. Adhering to the TPT framework, I argue Japan should learn from Germany’s internationalization of higher education institutions while Korea can draw lessons from Singapore’s SkillsFuture initiative.