A Few Years Ago the News Magazine the Economist Listed

question 52

Essay

A few years ago the news magazine The Economist listed some of the stranger explanations used in the past to predict presidential election outcomes. These included whether or not the hemlines of women's skirts went up or down, stock market performances, baseball World Series wins by an American League team, etc. Thinking about this problem more seriously, you decide to analyze whether or not the presidential candidate for a certain party did better if his party controlled the house. Accordingly you collect data for the last 34 presidential elections. You think of this data as comprising a population which you want to describe, rather than a sample from which you want to infer behavior of a larger population. You generate the accompanying table:

Joint Distribution of Presidential Party Affiliation and Party Control
of House of Representatives, 1860-1996 $$\begin{array} { | c | c | c | c | } \hline & \begin{array} { c } \text { Democratic Control } \\\text { of House } ( Y = 0 )\end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Republican Control } \\\text { of House } ( Y = 1 )\end{array} & \text { Total } \\\hline \begin{array} { c } \text { Democratic } \\\text { President } ( X = 0 )\end{array} & 0.412 & 0.030 & 0.441 \\\hline \begin{array} { c } \text { Republican } \\\text { President } ( X = 1 )\end{array} & 0.176 & 0.382 & 0.559 \\\hline \text { Total } & 0.588 & 0.412 & 1.00 \\\hline\end{array}$$ (a)Interpret one of the joint probabilities and one of the marginal probabilities.
(b)Compute E(X). How does this differ from E(X $\mid Y$ = 0)? Explain.
(c)If you picked one of the Republican presidents at random, what is the probability that during his term the Democrats had control of the House?
(d)What would the joint distribution look like under independence? Check your results by calculating the two conditional distributions and compare these to the marginal distribution.

Differentiate between the weighted-average and FIFO methods in process costing.

Understand how materials, labor, and overhead costs are added in process costing systems.

Calculate the total cost of units completed and transferred out as well as units in ending work in process inventory.

Understand the concept and application of the weighted-average method in process costing.

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Definitions:

Flooding

A psychological treatment method for phobias and anxiety disorders that involves exposing the patient to their fear object or context without any danger, to help them overcome their anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

A mental disorder marked by unwanted and intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) aimed at reducing anxiety.

Psychodynamic Theorists

Scholars and clinicians who focus on the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions, and how they may relate to early experience.

Defense Mechanisms

Psychological strategies employed by individuals unconsciously to cope with reality and maintain self-image by reducing anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.