The problem with most of these theories is that they don't prove causation - just correlation. The causation could go the other way. For example, let's consider the argument that it was the growth of institutions that led to economic development. But could it not be that it was economic development that led to institutions? Did industrialization cause the growth or did the growth cause the industrialization?

This is easier to see with more current examples. Why is Silicon Valley what it is and some other parts of the country technological backwaters? Any causal argument can be turned around so that the effect is the cause and the cause is the effect.