Skip Navigation
Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle - Megan McArdle is a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. She has worked at three start-ups, a consulting firm, an investment bank, a disaster recovery firm at Ground Zero, and The Economist. More

Megan was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and yes, she does enjoy her lattes, as well as the occasional extra-dry skim-milk cappuccino. Her checkered work history includes three start-ups, four years as a technology project manager for a boutique consulting firm, a summer as an associate at an investment bank, and a year spent as sort of an executive copy girl for one of the disaster-recovery firms at Ground Zero … all before the age of 30.

While working at Ground Zero, Megan started Live From the WTC, a blog focused on economics, business, and cooking. She may or may not have been the first major economics blogger, depending on whether we are allowed to throw outlying variables such as Brad Delong out of the set. From there it was but a few steps down the slippery slope to freelance journalism. She has worked in various capacities for The Economist, where she wrote about economics and oversaw the founding of Free Exchange, the magazine's economics blog. She has also maintained her own blog, Asymmetrical Information, which moved to The Atlantic, along with its owner, in August 2007.

Megan holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, she now resides in northwest Washington, D.C., where she is still trying to figure out what one does with an apartment larger than 400 square feet.
« Previous McArdle | Next McArdle » Email Email Print Print

Freedom's just another word for "Sudafed on demand"

By Megan McArdle

Sep 21 2007, 11:54 AM ET Comment

The other day, I stopped in the drugstore on the way to meet a friend in order to pick up a little cold medicine. I stomped out in a huff, proclaiming that "this is not how people in a free society should live." In order to obtain a little Sudafed, I had to produce a photo ID and sign for it. Is shutting down one of many avenues of meth production really worth the price of treating every American citizen with a stuffy nose like a drug dealer?

Walter Olson points out that some lawsuit lunatics in Arkansas are trying to make it all worse still. Stop the world, I want to get off.

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

A Lonely Widow's Conscience Helped Gay Marriage Pass in Washington A Moving Speech from a Washington Legislator
The Amazing Swing State Recovery and Why It (Probably) Doesn't Matter The Amazing Swing State Recovery May Not Change Votes
Why Does Maine Have a Two-and-a-Half-Month Caucus? Mitt Romney Wins Maine's Two-and-a-Half-Month Caucus
Occupy Kindergarten: The Rich-Poor Divide Starts With Education The Rich-Poor Divide Starts With Education
The Weakening of Nations: How Tax Work-Arounds Undermine Our Society Those Cayman Islands Accounts Will Undermine Our Society

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Special Report
Election 2012 Reuters Election 2012
The destination for full politics coverage, from the primaries to the White House. Read more ›

Correspondents

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

The Civil War, Part 3: The Stereographs

Feb 10, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Megan McArdle
from the Magazine

Why Companies Fail

GM’s stock price has sunk by a third since its IPO. Why is corporate turnaround so difficult…

The Graduates

Busted banking careers, crashed consultants, and shrunken incomes: the author attends her 10-year…

Romney’s Business

The Republican contender touts his business experience—but does it really matter?