Much of the economic growth literature has focused on the contribution of human capital to national development. Two assumptions have remained largely unexamined: (I) economic stability results from economic growth, and (II) investments in human capital result in economic growth (ceteris...

This paper presents a cliometric application of fractional integrated processes to socio-economic time series for France and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. The analysis leads to a significant result: no short or long term cycle appears as the dominant constituent.