ase - Is there discrimination?
In the State of California, there was an alleged case of discrimination for a department that oversees the allocation of state funds for over 250,000 consumers. In particular the discrimination allegation was derived from an analysis which considered the average annual expenditures by ethnicity. What stood out to the managers of the department and the state Legislators was the Hispanic consumers received on average far less than the expenditures received by white, non-Hispanic consumers. The data set discrimination.xlsx consists of a simple random sample of 1,000 consumers summarized with the variables and tables below by a consultant.
ID - this variable represents the primary key corresponding to each consumer. Similar to a social security number this variable is in the file only for documentation purposes.
Expenditures -- this variable represents the annual expenditures by the state in support of the consumers (and their families). There are a number of accounts for which the consumers may receive funds, such as respite for their families, psychological services, medical expenses, transportation, and as the clients get older a major source is supported living (rent).
Gender -- coded Male and Female. The reason for including this variable is that sex (gender) is a basis for discrimination cases in the legal system.
Ethnicity -- this is the key demographic variable in the data set as it pertains to the case. The basis for the underlying categories and distribution for this data comes from information provided from the State of California Department of Finance demographics section's website http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/ Based upon the 2010 Census, the following table shows the ethnicity profile of California
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Ethnicity
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Percent of Pooulation
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Hispanic or Latino of Any Race
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37.6%
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Not Hispanic or Latino:
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|
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White Alone
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40.1%
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Black or African American Alone
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5.8%
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American Indian and Alaska Native Alone
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0.4%
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Asian Alone
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12.8%
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Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone
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0.3%
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Some Other Race Alone
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0.2%
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Two or More Races
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2.6%
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Table 1.1 Ethnicity profile of California
Age -- is a key variable in the case. Age is a legal basis for discrimination in many situations, but in this case age is not a basis for filing a discrimination suit. The reason for that is that the population of concern in the case, are individuals with developmental disabilities and the purpose of the expenditures to assist these individuals (and their families) with the necessary support and services to live like people
who do not have disabilities [Lanterman Act] 1 The needs of the individuals increase as the clients age, therefore it is acknowledged that there is a reason for the expenditures to increase with age.
Based on the information above, explain to the California state Legislators whether the alleged discrimination based on ethnicity (Hispanic vs White non-Hispanic) exists or not. Note that in order for discrimination to exist, all else being the same, typical Hispanic would receive less than a typical white non-Hispanic. Your report should not exceed one page.