The bottom line

Compensation for CEOs

The typical CEO of an American company made $9.6 million last year. A person making the national median salary of $39,312 would have to work for 244 years to make that much. Ordinary workers received an average 1 percent pay raise in 2011, while top executives’ salaries climbed 6 percent.

Associated Press

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U.S. slashes carbon dioxide emissions

The U.S. has slashed its carbon dioxide emissions from energy generation by 7.7 percent, or 450 million tons, since 2006, more than any other country. The International Energy Agency attributes the drop to the shift from coal to natural gas, driven by the U.S. shale gas boom.

Financial Times

CEOs with veteran status

Companies run by CEOs who have served in the military are less likely to commit fraud than those run by non-vet executives, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard and Boston universities. But it also found that military CEOs produce lower returns for their companies.

Slate.com

Japanese students curb overseas studies

Fewer than 21,300 Japanese students studied in the U.S. last year, less than half the number from a decade ago, even though the number of Japanese undergrads has remained constant. Many Japanese corporations, which have a reputation for being insular, are reluctant to hire young people who have studied overseas.

The New York Times

Detroit to cut back on streetlights

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing plans to save money by reducing the number of streetlights in the financially strapped city from 88,000 to 46,000. The move might nudge residents into occupying a smaller urban footprint, since some distressed areas will no longer have street lighting at all.

Bloomberg.com