This makes some sense to me as more of a feeling without digging up enough data to confirm the suspicion, but I'd love others with more expertise to chime in.

Isn't part of the price>miners>hash>confirmation feedback loop you're suggesting typically accompanied by corresponding upticks or downticks in interest, use and transaction volume as well?

Plus, I thought the dynamic block size and dynamic fees usually helped smooth this out and keep the confirmation times within a relatively predictable range of upper and lower bounds.