This paper develops the fiscal health index of 21 local governments in Taiwan over the 1984 to 2010 period. A quantile regression analysis was used to explore the extent that economic variables, political budget cycles, and legislative checks and balances, impact different quantiles of fiscal health index for a country over a sample period of time. Our findings suggest that local governments at...

In standard spatial models of elections, parties with policy preferences take divergent positions. Their platform positions are less separated than are the parties’ ideal policies. If policy is the result of an executive–legislative compromise, the policy preferences of the parties can be moderated by voter behavior. Divided government may result. Since parties anticipate the moderated outcomes...

The identification of genetic diversity in dinoflagellates belonging to the genus Symbiodinium has been the subject of numerous studies over the last decade. During this time, a variety of molecules have been utilized. Some of these loci offer a "coarse" (i.e., 18S-rDNA) view while others provide a much "finer" (i.e., DNA fingerprinting) portrait of diversity within Symbiodinium. The use of seq...