by John Stamm

About the author: John Stamm is a public policy analyst for the Tax Equity Alliance for Massachusetts in Boston.

Since Surgeon General Luther Terry released the first official warnings in 1964, smoking in the United States has been steadily declining. But surveys have consistently shown this decline to be smaller and slower among less- educated Americans.

Studies done for the Centers for Disease Control detail these trends. While smoking decreased across all groups between 1974 and 1984, the percentage of college graduates who smoked declined almost five times faster than that of the rest of society. By 1985 18% of college graduates smoked, versus 34% of those who didn’t graduate from high school. Most (60%) college graduates who had ever smoked had quit. Only 40% of high school graduates or dropouts had kicked the habit.

Using this data...