The infant mortality rate is considered a good indicator of overall health care in a country. Th e following regression uses the infant mortality rate in the United States from 1951 to 1989 (number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births) as the dependent variable. The independent variables are X₁, a trend variable coded 1 in the first year and increasing by 1 for each year thereafter; X₂, the amount of money spent in the federal Medicaid program (a health care access program) in millions of dollars; and X₃, the amount of money spent in the federal supplemental program for women, infants, and children (WIC, a nutrition program).

Interpret the slopes, intercept, and coefficient of determination. Test the slopes for significance, and explain what this equation says about the impact of Medicaid and WIC on the infant mortality rate.

Y = 28.32 Sby 5b3 Sylx= = .12 R = .99 N = 39 - .26017X.00138X.00211X3 = .00365 56 = .00017 = .00113