Final answer:
The explanatory variable in the experiment is the appetite suppressant. This is the independent variable being manipulated to study its effects on weight loss, with the outcomes measured against a control group given a placebo.
Explanation:
The explanatory variable in this experiment, also known as the independent variable, is the treatment that participants receive, which in this case is the appetite suppressant. The researcher is trying to determine if this variable has an effect on the amount of weight lost by the participants over the course of the study.
In a controlled experiment, the explanatory variable is the one that is manipulated to test its effect on the dependent variable, which would be the weight loss in this scenario. By giving one group the appetite suppressant and the other a placebo, the researcher can compare the outcomes between the two groups to determine if the appetite suppressant has an effect on weight loss.
The use of random assignment increases the likelihood that any observed differences in weight loss are due to the effect of the appetite suppressant rather than other factors because it helps to ensure that each group is similar in all respects except for the treatment being tested.
Explain how a mixed economy is a mixture of command and pure market economy.
In a mixed market economy, economic authorities implement income redistribution systems on market outcomes, aiming to reduce income inequalities and to generate fairer allocations that bring welfare and good living standards to all the individuals that conform the society.
Such results register larger social welfare if compared to the results that would be generated by the free interaction of economic agents in the markets with no goverment intervention (pure market economy situation), or by the total intervention of the government, imposing every economic decision and with no markets (pure command economy).