Professor Lemi’s research interests have focused on economic development in Africa, capital flow and its determinants in developing countries, multinational corporations and their role in developing countries, as well as on issues of poverty, trade, and income diversification in Ethiopia. Currently, Lemi is working on a study funded by a UMass Boston Joseph P. Healey Research Grant entitled “Offshore, Onshore or Online: Barriers to Trade in Education Services.” Preliminary results were presented at the Knowledge Globalization conference in Boston in November 2010.
Lemi’s works have been published in academic journals including, Eastern Economic Journal, International Trade Journal, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Transnational Corporations Journal, African Finance Journal, and Journal of Economic Development, among others. Professor Lemi had his chapter on "Capital Flow and Governance" accepted for publication in a forthcoming book (Globalization and Human Rights in the Developing World, Palgrave). In addition to working on two other papers (“Efficiency of Banking Industry in Africa,” and “Trade Misinvoicing and Capital Flight in Ethiopia”), Lemi is revising his earlier paper on “Trade Liberalization and Poverty Status in Ethiopia,” to prepare it for submission.