Question

1. Suppose you want to counter a claim made in class by Professor Jim Battista that Republicans care less about education than Democrats do. After a recent PSC 200 class on difference of means tests, you collect data on the 2010-2015 change in the property tax rate for counties with Republican-controlled

governments, R ~ N(μ ,s 2 ), and those with Democrat-controlled governments, D ~ N(μ ,s 2 ). iRR iDD

Given that the majority of public elementary and secondary school funding comes from property taxes, change in property taxes serves as a measure of local government concern for education. Based on a

random sample of 31 Republican-controlled counties, you find that R = 4.8 and s R = 12.6 . Based on a

random sample of 41 Democrat-controlled counties, you find that D = 10.3 and s D = 10.2 . Using these sample estimates, test the null hypothesis at the 5% significance level that there is no partisan difference in the 2010-2015 change in the property tax rate, i.e., μ D - μ R = 0 . [12 points]

Answer 1