The underlying core of what you say concerns motivation. That has been extensively studied. Marginal income has actually a negative impact on performance. To be explicit, anything above a certain minimum level reduces the quality and quantity of production, especially creative work. Studies have shown and confirm this under many settings. Studies have actually shown that reward degrades performance in adults and children. Children who were promised rewards for some cognitive tests performed significantly worse than those who weren’t.
That is the scientific observations concerning motivation which is in direct contradiction of the hypothetical but plausible-seeming argument that you and much of capitalist society has been subjected to. Of course, we live in that system and so we’ve internalized it. And of course, if it’s the only game in town then you have to play. However, it is far less efficient than other systems and works in spite and not because of its rules.
The two fastest growing economies in modern history are the Soviets and China. The USSR went from a besieged and destitute country to a world power in record time. The Chinese ‘miracle’ was even more dramatic. You and I might not like many aspects of the Soviet system but economically it was far superior without the use of extensive imperial neo-colonialism.
Back to motivation. Why? Why do the observations indicate the marginal negative effect of reward? We enter speculation territory but the best model is that of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation makes you do things but not well. Intrinsic motivation is what drives people to excel in hobbies and subjects you like. Incentives certainly work to a certain extent but are not the best way and have unintended consequences. The greatest scientists, like Einstein, were not rich and the immortal artists, like Mozart, died poor. As David Gates from an old band called ‘The Sound of Bread’ says about the guitar man “… But no one seems to know What it is that makes him go … got to play…”.
A true artist would actually pay her last cent to make beautiful music.
