ABSTRACT
World War I destroyed the old colonial trading system, but it did not end flawed economic development theorizing from the West. In fact, idealization of the West accelerated, under a new American vision mirroring the shift of the economic centre of gravity from the eastern to western Atlantic: in the process, the US dollar gradually replaced the pound as the lynchpin of the international financial system and Americanization became increasingly synonymous with Westernization of the former colonies. The pre-1914 narrow conception of Eurocentricity was henceforth broadened into USEurocentricity. Westernization of the former colonies took on a new meaning and mission led by mainstream economists.
