Resources and the cost of competing with Western finance

Britain's imperial economy and the United States' later predominance gave the Western system an established financial base. The transition toward American leadership began in the interwar years and became clear after World War II, while London and New York retained the advantages of working together. Improving existing infrastructure could be cheaper than building a competing center from scratch. The Soviet alternative in this argument was to bring more countries and their resources into its own system. The economic outlook is characterized as mercantilist because it equates power with physical control of resources, a comparison also applied to fascist systems. Naval visits could support the relationships that made such access possible.