This paper consists of three related lectures dealing with the application of basic economic concepts and theory to educational planning. In the first lecture, the author describes the fundamental principles involved in the study of economics and shows that educational planning is basically a process for making certain economic choices. The second lecture examines the economic concepts of savings, investment, consumption, and production, and then discusses their application to educational planning. The third lecture discusses the economic concepts of capital in general and human capital in particular and considers three possible approaches to studying returns to capital formation in education. (Author/JG)