There was obviously value extraction taking place in these areas. The question is if this extraction had meaningful impacts on the trajectory of the imperialists or that of their subjects. Decolonialists would have you believe that Britain would not have industrialized had it not been for materials they "stole" from India, Africa, and the Americas.

Let's suppose this extraction had an appreciable impact on the development of Britain: Could you explain why the British are not as wealthy as the Germans or the Swedes, being that the British possessed colonies, and the Germans and Swedes did not? This pattern holds for almost all North European countries, so take care that your explanation does not fixate on the two I have chosen.