Gender attitudes toward corruption and tax evasion. Do men and women differ in their attitudes toward public corruption and tax evasion? This was the question of interest in a study published in Contemporary Economic Policy (October 2010). The data for the analysis were obtained from a representative sample of over 30,000 Europeans. Each person was asked how justifiable it is for someone to (1) accept a bribe in the course of his or her duties and (2) cheat on his or her taxes. Responses were measured as 0, 1, 2, or 3, where 0 = “always justified” and 3 = “never justified.” The large-sample Wilcoxon rank sum test was applied in order to compare the response distributions of men and women.

a. Give the null hypothesis for the test in the words of the problem.

b. An analysis of the “justifiability of corruption” responses yielded a large-sample test statistic of z = -14.10 with a corresponding p-value of approximately 0. Interpret this result.

c. Refer to part

b. Women had a larger rank sum statistic than men. What does this imply about gender attitudes toward corruption?

d. An analysis of the “justifiability of tax evasion” responses yielded a large-sample test statistic of z = -18.12 with a corresponding p-value of approximately 0. Interpret this result.

e. Refer to part

d. Again, women had a larger rank sum statistic than men. What does this imply about gender attitudes toward tax evasion?