How does one measure the opportunity cost of, say, 10 million slaughtered peasants over the last 40 years?
You really need to expand your time-frame in order to make sense of this question. Like 400 years rather than 40. If it were not for the colonial exports of silver, gold, fur, sugar, timber, cotton, etc. through the 16th to 19th century, the industrial revolution would have not been possible. Once Europe and the USA go through this supercharged development, it gains a huge edge in technology. Thus, it can maintain a lead over the South based mainly on a pre-existing momentum. Once we arrive in the late 20th century, it matters little whether IBM makes more money in Great Britain than in Bangladesh. Foreshortening of history leads to foreshortening of politics obviously.
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