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I agree that the "Protestant work ethic" explanation for the rise of the West is a stretch. But not because I reject those kinds of value judgments wholesale. I think that Protestantism actually--in its aim--was a counter force against the Rennaisance, which was a force in the direcation of the Enlightenment. And it's the Enlightenment that explains the West's dominance. On the other hand, the Protestant Reformation broke Catholic Christianity's hammerlock on European institutions. Still, accelerating progress toward the Enlightenment was an unintended byproduct of the Reformation, and "protestant work ethic" per se was not of overriding significance. This is my opinion, anyway. More on this another time.
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Some people say that Protestantism was a catalyst for the Enlightenment because the Reformation, as you said, broke the Catholic hammerlock and got people thinking for themselves. Some believe that it was Christianity that produced the Enlightenment because the belief that "reason can conquer all" was a byproduct of the Christian soteriology, as opposed to Platonism, which held that pure reason cannot be attained by mortals.
PWE also held that Confucian societies like Japan and China would never develop because individual initiative is hampered. Now that Japan has grown very fast, people are saying "Asian values" are good economics because it emphasizes dedication to the company. And "ma~nana culture" is keeping Latin America back.
THERE ARE AS MANY CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS AS EXPERTS.
Is there any way we can test any of these theories? No. Why not extend GGS's approach to smaller geographical regions?