David Savageau and Geoffrey Loftus, the authors of Places Rated Almanac (published in 1997 by Macmillan) have ranked 325 metropolitan areas in the United States with consideration of the following aspects of life in each area: cost of living, transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, arts, health, and recreation. The data are in the file P2_55.XLS.

a. Use multiple regression analysis to explore the relationship between the metropolitan area’s overall score and the set of potential explanatory variables.

b. Interpret each of the estimated coefficients in the regression model. Are the signs of the estimated coefficients consistent with your expectations? If not, can you explain any discrepancies between your findings and expectations?

c. Does the given set of explanatory variables do a good job of explaining changes in the overall score? Explain why or why not.