As a gca, I have a different take on the original question:
Hell yeah capitalism has kept golf course architecture cheap!
Thanks to a bazillion competitors, I can't charge nearly what I should be charging......
John seems to be referring to the cost of golf, not the cost of golf architecture. That cost is most affected by land costs, interest rates, subsidies from other entities (housing developer, etc) and of course, overall demand in a particluar locale.
While construction cost does affect what is charged, as we have discussed before, it ends up being about a third of the project cost. Turning a $4M course into a $3M course through "minimalism" then only reduces the cost that they "have to charge" by 8-10% at most, i.e., from $40 to $36.