I've just been reading the book "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism" by Ha-Joon Chong and one thing that I can bring to the table from that book is the notion of Immigration Control (in chapter 3) as the single most influential factor in holding wages up in countries. The example he gives is of a Swedish bus driver being paid 50x as much as an Indian one, where as they do the same job, just in different places.
Now since anyone in the world can create and submit work for 99designs (as well as for any other internet / information based agencies) it really levels out the playing field and removes the barrier of immigration when it comes to wages. Meaning that information workers (designers in this case) from developed countries need to add more value to what they are doing than what is available through sites like 99designs, if they want to continue practicing their craft.
Now since anyone in the world can create and submit work for 99designs (as well as for any other internet / information based agencies) it really levels out the playing field and removes the barrier of immigration when it comes to wages. Meaning that information workers (designers in this case) from developed countries need to add more value to what they are doing than what is available through sites like 99designs, if they want to continue practicing their craft.