Researchers recruited participants for a wine tasting study that included a variety of wines in terms of style and price. The participants tasted a series of wines in a random order. Participants could look at the bottle for each wine so they could take its price and label information into account as they tasted and rated each wine. The participants rated the more expensive wines significantly better tasting than the less expensive wines. The researchers carrying out the study conclude that more expensive wines taste better. Required:
What is a confounding variable that makes their conclusion inappropriate?

The east asiatic company (eac), a danish company with subsidiaries throughout asia, has been funding its bangkok subsidiary primarily with u.s. dollar debt because of the cost and availability of dollar capital as opposed to thai baht-denominated (b) debt. the treasurer of eac-thailand is considering a 1-year bank loan for $247,000.the current spot rate is b32.03 /$, and the dollar-based interest is 6.78% for the 1-year period. 1-year loans are 12.04% in baht.a. assuming expected inflation rates of 4.3 % and 1.24% in thailand and the united states, respectively, for the coming year, according to purchase power parity, what would the effective cost of funds be in thai baht terms? b. if eac's foreign exchange advisers believe strongly that the thai government wants to push the value of the baht down against the dollar by5% over the coming year (to promote its export competitiveness in dollar markets), what might the effective cost of funds end up being in baht terms? c. if eac could borrow thai baht at 13% per annum, would this be cheaper than either part (a) or part (b) above?