It’s definitely giving him a lot of credit, and/or playing very fast and loose with his awareness.

An alternate take on his awareness would be that he’s not interested in trading or economics, but he’s read enough history and has enough of a subliminal and intuitive sense of how the world works that even though he won’t let it affect his actual thinking,* it does slip in around the edges in a way that adds a lot of (positive) texture.

*This is a criticism. I read his disinterest in where food or arms or any damn thing comes from as part and parcel of his disregard for any subhuman who works with their hands or generally lacks the good grace to be born an aristocrat. (Not trying to start a fight, btw: I know you don’t share his values in that regard. But whether something’s fussy nerd nitpicking or not kinda depends on whether you think it signifies, and in this area it connects to some things I really do care about. So we’re maybe gonna differ on that score.)