Regarding "construction of 100-traders long "lines" of caravans", "just looks bad": totally agree, and have proposed solutions a couple of times.
Regarding "markets now generate income at a fixed rate": I was thinking about it to emulate "local trade".
The "logarithmic" idea is interesting, quite different from what I was in principle thinking for a new system, while I don't agree much with "garrison workers in your markets to leverage full efficiency", it seems a waste of units.