Lately, I've been toying with the idea that something like the technology seen in John Ringo's "Legacy of the Aldenata/Posleen War" series could work as a framework for explaining OTU technology and economics.

As I recall those novels, everything that you could ever want has already been invented and uploaded to the Galactic Library . . . and in order to use it, you must pay ENORMOUS fees to research in the archives, then even MORE ENORMOUS fees to obtain a license to manufacture that tech. Even worse, the more advanced tech requires handcrafting on the microscopic level by what are essentially a dedicated class of psionic monks (the only ones who can successfully direct the nanobots that actually build the items) . . . who of course charge EVEN MORE ENORMOUS fees.

Basically, independent production is totally strangled, leading to massive transports carrying goods from the few places where they can be legally manufactured to the many places where they can only be bought . . . and the Galactic Powers That Be like it that way.