Nice questions. if we had 'teams' of programmers and each team competes for new members, that is where 'the baseball like draft' analogy from. The programmers would be earning an income from their team so I am not about turning developers into contract workers. Just to clarify a team could be a co-op( or whatever structure).

Making more money doesn't have to come from wage inflation. it can be derived from cost saving. Just like if you are a member of housing co-op, you still pay rent but the benefits you derive are incomparable if you just paid directly to a landlord.

For a capitalistic business, the two options are either pay a fixed monthly wage and keep most of the profit or have no upfront wage costs and share your profits(royalties).It all comes down to preferences and what position each party wants/can negotiate.

It is not perfection I seek but less options that I seek to avoid. About Egos that where the "xprize' esque comes in, business pay for explicit specific outcomes(think of it as a service level agreement).