Are you sure the burden of proof isn't yours? You're making an unlikely claim, if not an extraordinary one.

If I shoot someone and they fall down dead, is "b....b....but correlation isn't causation!" a valid defense?

I think that just speaks volumes of your cultural bias.

For me, it is quit natural to assume that a base level of employee protection causes innovation. And Germany would be a good example, as there are quit some innovative small to medium sized companies. The only thing lacking is tech unicorns and there are all sorts of reasons for this.

The proof are the many valuable American companies making world-changing products used globally and constantly copied by many other nations with their own domestic clones.

That is not a proof for the question. You seem invested in your believes and either don't know or care about scientific evidence to back them up.

There is nothing more to gain here, have a good day.

Valuations, revenues, and revolutionary products are quite real. What would be proof of the contrary? What form of proof are you even looking for?

What is missing is a causal link between lesser employee rights and those values.

I could claim that the historic position of the USA after WW2 caused all of these. My claim would be as baseless as yours. A good starting point for research, but nothing more.