You won't even get developers agreeing, most people think they're worth more than they are and better than they are.  Pay could be perfectly fair and people will still be insulted because they don't believe developer X is really better than they are even if everyone else believes so.<p>The only thing I've ever seen that makes people not feel this way is an objective ranking system and pay scale, such as the military.  You pass text X and have Y years in service you get Z dollars, with the test generally meaning more than years in service so as not to prevent stars from rising but still allowing lesser talent to earn rank with time in service.  Such an atmosphere ends up divorcing pay from the job in such a way that people tend to do work for pride rather than money.