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Really, the supply-demand model in game is the major issue. And no matter what economic system the game used, you would still be doing the same thing. In other words, everything including economy goes to hell in a hellish environment.
Of course, merchants have a long history of taking advantage of people in times of crisis (unless they are controlled by the population or the state). A subtle criticism of industrialism can be seen in the Olgimski's (eg. Vlad's well disturbing the sacred, the picture in Klara's room).
However, I don't see the game as particularly critical of Capitalism (and in that sense at least it is quite Russian). I feel it is more like a strole through a park or walking through a novel, surrounded by all sorts of impressions of different realities and works. So my sense if very close to that of Sprite.
The presence of the game isn't interms of the thesis, but the experience - I have never fallen so instantly for an Inquisitor in all my life
But, Aglaia's impact isn't due to what she represents (something horrible in reality), nor is it due to the character herself - but rather in one's entire reaction to all that has gone before and to one's surroundings (and pressures).
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I can say that capitalism is an infection, but the expansion of society - even worse. When money is prevalent, other values are alien, blood everywhere - it's awful. In Russia, such a situation, we, the commoners under pressure.
The great tragedy is that each capitalist organisation tends to be a dictatorship. Each business has its own aristocracy and its own leaders, which enroll others to their will and to their designs. In this way the corporate world is very much the existence of many dictatorships. Thankfully they don't have has many legal powers (eg. they can only kill people through industrial accidents or letting them starve - not through capital punishment).
It is amazing how similar "clockwork-society" forms of Socialism (or Tsarism) and Laissez-Fair Capitalist Liberalism are similar in this way. Working class in Western Europe eventually lead to social democracies, which helped to restrain this problem (the social restraining the private dictators and the democracy restraining the public dictators). However, it is a difficult road which we aren't always succeeding at, and many countries like the United States and Russia seem to be having difficulty finding this route to be an option.
Anyway, those are my thoughts - please disagree (democracy after all!). I like Pathologic because it has quite a few different strands in it - so it can evoke memories of different societies and times.
I only ever raided a house once, because I needed a specific item that is not sold in shops. The game's difficulty is a bit overrated in reviews, I found it very manageable once I figured things out.