Alternative medicine and herbal remedies in the treatment of erectile dysfunction: A systematic review

Objectives: To systematically review and discuss the current evidence from placebo-controlled clinical trials that investigated the use of alternative medicines and herbal remedies in the management of erectile dysfunction (ED). Methods: A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)- based systematic review using specific keyword combinations was conducted on the PubMed and Scopus databases. Randomised controlled trials investigating herbal medicine in at least one group and using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) as an outcome in patients primarily diagnosed with ED were included for review. Results: Following the literature search, screening and eligibility analysis, a total of 42 articles were included. The 42 articles were categorised as single herb extractions (n = 14), combination herbal formula (n = 5), combination of herbal formula and non-herbal nutraceuticals (n = 7), non-herbal nutraceuticals (n = 5), acupuncture and moxibustion (n = 2), diet and nutrition (n = 3), exercise (n = 5), and topical treatments (n = 1). Based on the results, Korean ginseng, Pygnogenol and Prelox, Tribulus terrestris, Lepidium meyenii, L-arginine, acupuncture and lifestyle interventions were the more predominantly investigated treatments interventions for ED. Conclusions: Panax ginseng, Pygnogenol, Prelox and Tribulus terrestris have promising evidence as herbal products, alongside L-arginine as a nutritional supplement, for ED based on IIEF outcomes, and warrant further clinical investigation. The mechanisms of action remain unclear, but each of these appears to in part increase nitric oxide synthesis. Importantly, improved diet and exercise should be considered, particularly in patients with obesity or diabetes mellitus

Gender norms, landholdership, and rural land use fee and agricultural income tax in Ethiopia

Area-based land taxes, a form of property tax, exist where rural land markets do not exist or do not function well. Understanding how these taxes affect different groups of landholders, including by men and women, is important since a tax based on the land size is likely to have an outsized effect on smaller landholders. However, survey data allowing for an individual- and household-disaggregated analysis has been scarce. Using newly available data on tax payments and self-reported individual land ownership from the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey 2018/2019, this paper assessed the gender implications of an area-based rural land use fee and agricultural income tax in Ethiopia. We found that female adult-only households were more likely than dual adult households to be smallholders with less than 0.5 hectare of land, and these smallholders faced the largest per-hectare tax rates. Female-headed- and female adult-only households faced a tax incidence that was 37 percent higher than it was for male-headed and dual-adult households. The gender land ownership patterns, norms limiting women’s role in agriculture, household structures, and gender agricultural productivity gaps are likely to result in lower consumption, and consequently, a higher tax burden for women. Finally, we simulated the effect of a hypothetical tax schedule with progressive per-hectare tax rates and exemptions for smallholders and found that while this would reduce women’s tax burdens, the tax remained to be regressive because of the prevalence of landholder ship among poor households. Our study highlights the difficulty of area-based land taxes to be progressive

Handbook on Impact Evaluation : Quantitative Methods and Practices

This book reviews quantitative methods and models of impact evaluation. The formal literature on impact evaluation methods and practices is large, with a few useful overviews. Yet there is a need to put the theory into practice in a hands-on fashion for practitioners. This book also details challenges and goals in other realms of evaluation, including monitoring and evaluation (M&E), operational evaluation, and mixed-methods approaches combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. This book is organized as follows. Chapter two reviews the basic issues pertaining to an evaluation of an intervention to reach certain targets and goals. It distinguishes impact evaluation from related concepts such as M&E, operational evaluation, qualitative versus quantitative evaluation, and ex-ante versus ex post impact evaluation. Chapter three focuses on the experimental design of an impact evaluation, discussing its strengths and shortcomings. Various non-experimental methods exist as well, each of which are discussed in turn through chapters four to seven. Chapter four examines matching methods, including the propensity score matching technique. Chapter five deal with double-difference methods in the context of panel data, which relax some of the assumptions on the potential sources of selection bias. Chapter six reviews the instrumental variable method, which further relaxes assumptions on self-selection. Chapter seven examines regression discontinuity and pipeline methods, which exploit the design of the program itself as potential sources of identification of program impacts. Specifically, chapter eight presents a discussion of how distributional impacts of programs can be measured, including new techniques related to quantile regression. Chapter nine discusses structural approaches to program evaluation, including economic models that can lay the groundwork for estimating direct and indirect effects of a program. Finally, chapter ten discusses the strengths and weaknesses of experimental and non-experimental methods and also highlights the usefulness of impact evaluation tools in policy making

Internet: www.worldbank.org

This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Gender and Tax Incidence of Rural Land Use Fee and Agricultural Income Tax in Ethiopia

The rural land use fee and agricultural income tax are major payments for rural landholders in Ethiopia. This paper examines the gender implications of these taxes using tax payment and individual land ownership data from the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey 2018/2019. It finds that the rural land use fee and agricultural income tax, which are assessed on the area of landholdings, are regressive. Female-headed- and female adult-only households bear a larger tax burden than male-headed and dual-adult households. Norms limiting women’s role in agriculture and gender agricultural productivity gaps are likely to result in lower consumption and accordingly, a higher tax burden for female-headed households than for male-headed households. Reducing the tax rates for smallholders can diminish the gender difference in tax burdens, but the tax continues to be regressive. This highlights the difficulty of area-based land taxes to be vertically equitable

Gender Implications of Rural Land Use Fee and Agricultural Income Tax in Ethiopia

Land use fees and agricultural income tax in Ethiopia are levied on rural landholders according to the size of agricultural landholdings. Summarizing the evidence presented in the authors paper based on new, nationally-representative data on taxation of households and individual landholdings and rights in the Fourth Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey, this brief discusses how area-based land taxes are regressive and the tax burdens for female-only households are larger than for dual-adult households. Social norms limiting women’s roles in agriculture and a gender agricultural productivity gap are likely to be a source of this gender bias. Lower tax rates for smallholders can reduce women’s tax burdens, but area-based land taxation would continue to be regressive

Handbook on Impact Evaluation : Quantitative Methods and Practices

This book reviews quantitative methods and models of impact evaluation. The formal literature on impact evaluation methods and practices is large, with a few useful overviews. Yet there is a need to put the theory into practice in a hands-on fashion for practitioners. This book also details challenges and goals in other realms of evaluation, including monitoring and evaluation (M&E), operational evaluation, and mixed-methods approaches combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. This book is organized as follows. Chapter two reviews the basic issues pertaining to an evaluation of an intervention to reach certain targets and goals. It distinguishes impact evaluation from related concepts such as M&E, operational evaluation, qualitative versus quantitative evaluation, and ex-ante versus ex post impact evaluation. Chapter three focuses on the experimental design of an impact evaluation, discussing its strengths and shortcomings. Various non-experimental methods exist as well, each of which are discussed in turn through chapters four to seven. Chapter four examines matching methods, including the propensity score matching technique. Chapter five deal with double-difference methods in the context of panel data, which relax some of the assumptions on the potential sources of selection bias. Chapter six reviews the instrumental variable method, which further relaxes assumptions on self-selection. Chapter seven examines regression discontinuity and pipeline methods, which exploit the design of the program itself as potential sources of identification of program impacts. Specifically, chapter eight presents a discussion of how distributional impacts of programs can be measured, including new techniques related to quantile regression. Chapter nine discusses structural approaches to program evaluation, including economic models that can lay the groundwork for estimating direct and indirect effects of a program. Finally, chapter ten discusses the strengths and weaknesses of experimental and non-experimental methods and also highlights the usefulness of impact evaluation tools in policy making