Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo
Development practitioner and researcher. Research interests include risk and uncertainty, productivity and efficiency, finance and investment,and development problems of Africa.
Articles by Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo
October 30, 2011
Introduction
My 40th article with Afroarticles is devoted to the seminal work in development economics of Sir Arthur Lewis (January 23, 1915 - June 15, 1991), the first and the only black person to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. Professor Lewis won the 1979 Nobel Prize in econo...
August 27, 2011
Introduction
Fixed capital has long been considered as an engine of growth both as a factor of production and as an embodiment of technological progress. Countries that had made sustained accumulation of fixed capital were able to achieve higher and sustained economic growth and development whil...
August 21, 2011
The cradle of mankind, Horn of Africa, remains the land of untold human tragedy. While we still have a vivid memory of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia that killed over a million people, 12 million more people are facing agonizing famine once more. The death of over 29000 Somali infants during the past f...
May 22, 2011
Introduction
A Report by the United Nations Development Programme released in May 2011 revealed that the world´s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of which 33 are in sub Saharan Africa, 14 in Asia and 1 in Latin America and the Caribbean, illegally transferred a net capital of about US...
May 01, 2011
Introduction
Analyses of global poverty often focus on a narrow concept of economic poverty, which is measured by income, consumption or wealth. Accordingly, an individual who does not have an access to food that provides a standard minimum daily energy requirement or lives on an income of less...
March 12, 2011
Introduction
Africa is endowed with rich and diverse natural resources ranging from oil and gas to various minerals including diamond, gold, uranium, copper, zinc, cobalt and so on. At the end of 2010, 17 of the 53 African countries produced and exported oil with Libya and Nigeria holding the wo...
January 23, 2011
Introduction
Economic theories state that FDI inflows contribute to the economic performance of a host country in a number of ways: First, the FDI inflows represent additional resources which can be used to build additional physical capital and create more employment. Second, by increasing the s...
October 24, 2010
Introduction
For many African countries 2010 marked 50th year of independence from European colonialism. However, there is very little to celebrate as the continent remains the poorest in the world and the majority of its citizens continue to languish under poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illit...
September 04, 2010
Introduction
As many economists had expected, China overtook Japan as the world´s second largest economy during the second quarter of 2010. The Chinese nominal Q2 GDP was $1.335 trillion surpassing that of Japan, $1.286, by $0.049 trillion for the same quarter. Japan had retained this position s...
August 15, 2010
Introduction
The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation published their 2010 Index of Economic Freedom under the theme "The Link Between Economic Opportunity and Prosperity" covering 183 countries across 10 specific freedoms: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government s...
July 26, 2010
1.Introduction
Sub Saharan Africa is a home to 47 of the 53 countries in the continent. In 2009, based on GNI per capita, the World Bank classified countries into four categories: (a) low income, with GNI per capita of $995 or less; (b) lower middle income $996 - $3,945; (c) upper middle income, ...
July 03, 2010
Economic growth theories focus on physical and human capital as key determinants of economic growth and development. The neoclassical (exogenous) growth model was based on the assumption that economic advancement was driven by labour, physical capital and technology and that technological change th...
July 03, 2010
Economic growth theories focus on physical and human capital as key determinants of economic growth and development. The neoclassical (exogenous) growth model was based on the assumption that economic advancement was driven by labour, physical capital and technology and that technological change th...
July 03, 2010
Economic growth theories focus on physical and human capital as key determinants of economic growth and development. The neoclassical (exogenous) growth model was based on the assumption that economic advancement was driven by labour, physical capital and technology and that technological change th...
March 31, 2010
2.The Ireland Aid - Sidama Development Programme - An Area Based Integrated Rural Development Approach
2.1 The Development Programme
The Ireland Bilateral Aid Programme for the Sidama province known as the Sidama Development Programme (SDP) was established in May 1994 after a feasibility ...
March 31, 2010
1.Introduction: the Failure of the Conventional Aid Model
The micro and macroeconomic impacts of development aid in Africa has become one of the most contentious issues for decades now. The recent path breaking book "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo, an Oxford/Harvard economist, has shaken the foundat...
February 06, 2010
1. Introduction
By early 1950s, based on the level of economic development and geopolitical alignment, the World was divided into three Worlds: The First World, the industrialised, capitalist, countries of North America, western Europe, Japan and Australia under the United States´ sphere of poli...
December 30, 2009
1. Introduction
The failure of the Copenhagen Climate Summit 2009 to reach a meaningful and legally binding agreement to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impacts of the current climate change on developing countries seriously disappointed not only the most concerned president of the Mald...
November 08, 2009
1.Introduction
Rapid technological advances and globalisation coupled with the widespread use of the information and communication technology have extended the global reach of economic agents and countries. To fully benefit from these irreversible global mega trends, poorer countries such as thos...
October 24, 2009
1.Introduction
Human migration is the movement of people within or across a political boundary for the purpose of taking up permanent or semipermanent residence. Human migration can be either voluntary or involuntary. The former occurs when people choose to move while the latter occurs when peop...
August 10, 2009
Introduction
Africa is the second largest continent in the World. Africa´s massive land mass of 30.3 million km2 makes it larger than the combination of China (9,6 million km˛), the US (9,4 million km˛), Western Europe (4,9 million km˛), India (3,2 million km˛), Argentina (2,8 million km˛), and...
July 26, 2009
Introduction
Developing countries faced catastrophic debt crisis in the 1980s following heavy borrowing after decolonization. Banks in the west freely lent money to newly independent developing countries often based on geopolitical concerns of the Cold War than financial prudence of the borrowers...
June 13, 2009
The Scientific Contribution
An acclaimed Oromo Ethiopian plant breeder and geneticist Professor Gebisa Ejeta has won the 2009 World Food Prize for developing drought-tolerant and parasite-resistant sorghum crop. Sorghum is one of the world´s five principal grains and staple food for about 500 m...
May 16, 2009
1. Introduction
In my previous articles, I mentioned the Sidama grand social constitution Seera, and various sub constitutions which derive from this grand constitution. We have also seen that all social constitutions or Seera in Sidama were based on the Sidama moral code of halale, the true way ...
May 11, 2009
IV The Sidama Economy
The Sidama economy is based primarily on subsistence agriculture characterized by archaic production techniques. However, a substantial area of the Sidama land produces coffee, which is the major cash crop in the region. Coffee has been the major source of income for the ru...
May 10, 2009
I An Overview of the Sidama History
One of the ancient Kushites, the Sidama people live in the southern part of the present day Ethiopia,with notable geographical features such as lake Awassa in the North and lake Abaya in the South. The Great East African Rift Valley dissects the Sidama land int...
May 03, 2009
Introduction
Foreign exchange reserves also known sometimes as official international reserves or official reserves consist of official public sector foreign assets that are readily available to and controlled by the monetary authorities. Reserve asset portfolios usually have special characterist...
April 26, 2009
Introduction
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published its second ever democracy index in the late 2008. The index measures the democratic status of 167 countries in the world. The organization looked at about 60 indicators of democracy in each country and divided the 167 countries surveyed...
April 14, 2009
4. Kush, Ethiopia and Abyssinia
Other historians argue that the Aksumite / Abyssinian king Ezana invaded the declining and weakened Kushitic/Meroitic Ethiopian kingdom at about 340 AD and burned down the city of Meroe. With the destruction of Meroë, this year marked the end of Kushitic state.
...
April 13, 2009
1. Introduction: The Kushites, the Nubians and the Ethiopians
Modern studies of ancient Egypt and Sudan often fail to make any distinction between the Kushitic people and the Nubians. Knowingly or unknowingly, most of these studies use the term Kush and Nubia interchangeably when they refer to th...
February 27, 2009
1. Introduction
At present the world is in the first networked recession of its kind triggered by the combination of three factors: the crisis in the credit markets, the collapse of the housing markets and decline in equity markets. The World´s biggest economy, the United States entered into rece...
January 24, 2009
1.Introduction
At the time of decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s, the level of economic development in most of Asia was comparable with that of Africa. For instance, four decades ago, the per capita income of South Korea was comparable with that of the Sudan in Africa. However, since the 196...
January 07, 2009
1. Introduction
Foreign direct investment (FDI) refers to investment in domestic structures, equipment and organization by foreign private sector or government. FDI does not include foreign portfolio investment in a domestic economy. The latter refers to investment in equity of domestic compani...
December 20, 2008
1.Introduction
Africa is believed to be not only the origin of mankind but also the origin of currency. The earliest currency used in commercial transactions appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia by the third millennium BC [1]. Later the Chinese, and the Greek and Roman Financiers contributed to the ...
December 14, 2008
1. Introduction
The unprecedented commodity price boom that began in October 2001 and that lasted for more than seven years came to an end in July 2008 amid slowing global economic growth. According to the World Bank´s Global Economic Prospects 2009, overall, global GDP growth is projected to dec...
December 06, 2008
1.Introduction
With the population of over 80 million, Ethiopia is the second largest country in Africa following Nigeria with the total population of 140 million. However, with per capita income of less than US $200, Ethiopia is one of the least developed countries in the sub Saharan Africa. Ag...
November 30, 2008
1. Introduction
The financial shock that erupted in August 2007, as the US sub-prime mortgage market was derailed by the reversal of the housing boom, has spread quickly and unpredictably to inflict extensive damage on markets and institutions at the heart of the financial system [1] in the US an...
October 05, 2008
1.Introduction
At present, most African stock exchanges operate as mutual companies. Mutual funds were once the most important vehicles of investment. For instance, in the United States, ownership of stock, bond and money market mutual funds rose from 6 percent of the US households in 1980 to...
September 25, 2008
1. Introduction
Africa is the least developed continent in the world. The combined GDP of the continent in 2007 was US$1.15 trillion (US $2.57 trillion based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)). This compares with the combined World GDP of US$65.6 trillion (PPP) and that of China US$6.99 trillion ...