You can still make tons of money by being a good businessperson and knowing nothing about programming.

I really wouldn't use the term "literacy" for programming-skills.

"Literacy" is not about being at an advantage. It is about having a disadvantage when you don't have it.

I think that's what was meant by "Middle Ages/ early Renaissance" in the comment above. In this time period, literacy was a rare advantage. For instance, in early modern England, literate people were not subject to ordinary criminal courts on a first offense.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_of_clergy

Thank you.