Playing the Market, Kenyan Style

The Washington Post has an interesting piece on the current enthusiasm for the stock market in Kenya. Of particular interest is the discussion of how the development of the stock market required a reorientation in the way people think about investment. In the past, investment meant buying a cow or some land; now investment means buying a stock certificate. One has obvious value; the other has value that is somewhat less obvious to new participants.

The article fails to delve deeply into possible problems--how well regulated is the market? How much fraud? Seems like these are important questions that, in the context of a country with a known record of corruption, one might want to think about prior to purchasing stocks (at least in the secondary market).