> You can look at Spanish records from the Council of the Indies archive and any time treasures were discovered, the price of each skyrocketed to the point where only the wealthiest hidalgos and their patrons could afford to go on such adventures.

Today this is real estate. And it's something people keep forgetting when arguing that ${whatever breakthrough or just more competition} will make ${some good or service} cheaper for consumers: prices of other things elsewhere will raise to compensate and consume any average surplus. Money left on the table doesn't stay there for long.