A microeconometric decomposition exercise presented by ECLAC (2011) notes that income per adult, and specifically earnings, were the main factor in the fall in inequality. The demographic factor was found to have had a modest effect on inequality, as the dependency ratio fell fairly evenly across all income levels. On the basis of an analysis of four middle-income countries in the region (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru), Lopez-Calva and Lustig (2010) conclude that two main factors account for the easing inequality in the countries: a narrowing of the wage gap between high-skilled and low-skilled workers and, to a lesser extent, an increase in government transfers to the lowest-income households.