Using the following example for reference, write a brief essay explaining why co
ID: 3055063 • Letter: U
Question
Using the following example for reference, write a brief essay explaining why correlation is not causation. Within your discussion, be sure to clearly define what is meant by each term and how they differ.
Economist discovers that over the past several years, both the salaries of U.S. college professors and the amounts of beer consumed in the United States have gone up. The economist concludes that the increase in beer consumption must be caused by professors spending their additional money on beer.
Explanation / Answer
Causation, or causality, is the capacity of one variable to influence another and correlation, which indicates the extent to which two variables tend to increase or decrease in parallel. However, correlation by itself does not imply causation.
Same implies here it is given that both the salaries of U.S. college professors and the amounts of beer consumed in the United States have gone up which means they form the correlation, but it is not clear that amount of beer consumed is going up because of US college professors only so it is not a causation i.e.rise in amount of beer consumed is not caused only due to US college professors.
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