My argument is that less price transparency (due to less competition and diffusion of information about prices) produced less aggressive competition based on margins. You only needed to provide a good or service people wanted and charge them a price they were willing to pay. There was far less need to worry about competing on price.

I loved when there was no competition for stuff in my town of 100k people.... LOL! (I suspect that you aren't actually against competition. But all competition is based on price, ultimately.)

There's no value judgment in my statement. I'm for competition, but I'm just pointing out that it's easier to everyone to embed a margin they can live on when there is less competition.