The objective of this dissertation is to study the role of investment in human capital in the form of education in economic growth. Specifically, this dissertation examines the impact of investments in human capital in the form of primary, secondary, and tertiary education on economic growth for ASEAN countries. This dissertation also provides estimates of rates of return to each level of educational investments for ASEAN countries.; The results show that Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have negative impacts on economic growth for primary education, and positive impacts on economic growth for secondary education. In contrast, for Philippines and Indonesia, the effects are positive for primary education and negative for secondary education. Tertiary education has significant positive impact on Philippines' and Indonesia's economic growth but insignificant positive effects on Singapore's, Malaysia's, and Thailand's economic growth.; Estimating using pooled ASEAN data by rates of change of human capital model shows that each level of educational investments relates positively with ASEAN countries' economic growth but insignificant with respect to primary and tertiary education. In addition, introducing a time lag to educational investment variables, so that, the current rate of economic growth be explained by past educational investments, further, reinforce our estimates on the positive relationship between educational investments at each level of education and ASEAN countries' economic growth.; We show that educational investments at each level of education are a productive investment that yield high rates of returns. The estimates for ASEAN countries show that social rate of return is highest for primary education, followed by secondary, and then tertiary education.; This dissertation reinforces the importance of educational investments for developing countries to achieve rapid economic growth.
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