Indeed, I don't think necessarily Andreas Hofer has bad intentions, but knowingly or unknowingly this is a basically a modernized version of old Nazi racial theories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_racial_theories

I am not saying Hofer is a Nazi. He is not making any moral conclusions from this or attacking any particular minority.

But f you look at the history of Nazi ideology, you will find various scientists who have pushed these sorts of ideas which later can embraced by violent ideologies such as Nazism.

Theories like these are dangerous because the legitimize the prejudices of people. Instead of making people understand the complex histories which have shaped countries and people, we give people an easy way out: All differences are just built in. They are genetic. There is nothing to learn.

Understanding economic development is a complex topic, which I believe people should bother to learn, rather than attempting these shortcuts.

I think people like Jared Diamond with his Guns, Germs and Steel, Adam Smith with his Wealth of Nations and Terje Tvedt with his analysis of the importance of water in development give a much richer and nuanced study of how countries develop without invoking race.

Not a lot of people know Terje Tvedt, but I give an intro to some of his ideas here which help explain why the Industrial revolution began in England as opposed to Italy, India or China;

https://erik-engheim.medium.com/why-england-industrialized-first-d09bc797cf7f

Anyway I appriciate that you as a biologist is stepping up and pushing back against the spread of these kinds of ideas. They are indeed dangerous.