Answer:
The correct option is No and lurking variable is "Economy".
Explanation:
Consider the provided information.
It is given that the linear correlation between violent crime rate and percentage of the population that has a cell phone is minus 0.918 for years since 1995.
There is a lurking variable between the proportion of the cell phone population and the rate of violent crime, the correlation between the two factors does not indicate causation.
Once the economy become stronger, crime rate tends to decrease.
Thus the correct option is NO.
Now, we need to identify the lurking variable between percentage of the population with a cell phone and violent crime rate.
Lurking variable is the variable which is unknown and not controlled.
Here, if we observe we can identify that economy plays a vital role. If economy become stronger, crime rate tends to decrease and population are better to buy phones. Also it is difficult to controlled over it.
Thus, the lurking variable is "Economy".