Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo
Development practitioner and researcher. Research interests include risk and uncertainty, productivity and efficiency, finance and investment, currency substitution and development problems of Africa.
Articles by Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo
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. Africaīs massive land mass of 30.3 million km2 makes it larger than the combination of China (9,6 million kmē), the US (9,4 million kmē), Western Europe (4,9 million kmē), India (3,2 million kmē), Argentina (2,8 million kmē), 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 worldīs 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 Worldīs 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 Bankīs 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 ...