Research Roundup

In honor of Mothers Day, Save the Children has released a report on the State of the World's Mothers 2007, which highlights the horrors of over 10.1 million children dying worldwide before age 5, but also finds that the United States ranks only 26th in the world in taking care of mothers' and children's health and other needs, given that the U.S. has the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world and its failure to provide for paid maternity leave and other care for families.

A new report by Service Employees International Union shows the negative effects that result when private equity takes public companies private.   Not only does the public lose access to critical information needed to maintain the accountability of corporations, but workers are usually allowed no voice in the deals and usually receive little benefit from them.

As we noted in our tax reform conference call last week, there are movement in many states to enact "combined reporting" reforms to prevent companies from using accounting games among corporate subsidiaries to avoid state taxes.  The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has a new report highlighting this trend, while a number of local organizations have reports on the need in their states: