The Effect of Education on Smoking Decisions in the United States

Abstract: This paper explores the link between education and the decision to start smoking as well as the decision to quit smoking. Data is gathered from IPUMS CPS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Probit analysis (with the use of probability weight and robust standard error) indicates that every additional year of education will reduce the 2.3 percentage point of the smoking probability and will add 3.53 percentage point in quitting likelihood, holding home restriction, public restriction, cigarette price, family income, age, gender, race, and ethnicity constant. I believe that tobacco epidemic is a serious global issue that may be mitigated by using careful regulations on smoking restriction and education.