Glass Barriers in Income Distributions

Samir Orujov ()
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Samir Orujov: UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud

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Abstract: We introduce glass barriers: income levels at which the density reaches a local minimum, creating structural gaps that impede upward mobility. A glass barrier at percentile p * is simultaneously a local maximum of the Lorenz curvature L ′′ (p * ), a local maximum of asymptotic quantile estimation variance, and a local minimum of the Fisher information for the income quantile-a new information-theoretic characterisation. We propose a nonparametric estimator with bootstrap inference and validate it in a Monte Carlo study: detection rates exceed 90% for moderate and sharp barriers at n ≥ 1,000 with bootstrap coverage approaching nominal at survey-scale sample sizes.

Keywords: income distribution glass barriers Lorenz curvature Fisher information nonparametric estimation density anti-mode JEL classification: C14 D31 C15; income distribution; glass barriers; Lorenz curvature; Fisher information; nonparametric estimation; density anti-mode JEL classification: C14; D31; C15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03-27
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