Assume that you are a policy analyst. Your staff has collected cross-sectional data on the

determinants of average length of stay in various hospitals. A staff member hands you the

following table or regression results, assuming that you know how to interpret it.

Table. Regression Results for the Impact of Various Factors on Average Hospital Length of

Stay

Independent Variable Coefficient t-Statistics

Intercept Term 0.038 3.56 *

Occupancy Rate -0.043 2.95*

Teaching Hospital or 0.167 1.89

Nonteaching hospital

(1=teaching, 0= others)

Number of Hospital Beds -0.246 2.58*

Number of physicians 0.135 3.14*

Region (1= central, 0=others) 0.054 2.47*

R-square = 0.437

An asterisk indicates that the coefficient is statistically significant in a two-tailed test at the

95% confidence level.

(a) In no more than two sentences each, interpret each independent variable's

coefficient and t-statistic (Including, coefficient, significance and if the

conclusion reliable or not)

(b) Interpret the R-square term