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.

How Can a Libertarian Be In Favor of Mandatory Vaccination, But Not Mandatory Health Insurance?

By Megan McArdle
Sep 14 2011, 12:13 PM ET Comment

Just a quick note, because this has popped up in the comments.  I am not against public health efforts when the behavior of one person puts another at direct physical risk.  You cannot drain your toilet directly into the local water table even if it all happens on your property, and you do not have a right to expose others to tuberculosis.  Similarly with vaccines.  The government does not have a right to mandate vaccination for your own good.  But it does have a right to do so when being unvaccinated is a physical threat to others who engage in normal behavior.

In our society, we have defined "having sex with someone who has ever had sex with another person" as a normal behavior--yes, even devout Catholics believe it is fine to marry a late convert, or a widower.  When 50% of the population has had the disease in question, and it is transmitted by activities that we consider a normal part of life, it's within the realm of public health.


Presented by

More at The Atlantic

From Mao Zedong to Jeremy Lin: Why Basketball Is China's Biggest Sport Why Basketball Is China's Biggest Sport
The Future of 'Glee': Reasons for Hope, Reasons for Dread What's Next For 'Glee'?
False Recovery 2.0: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2011 False Recovery 2.0: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2011
At the Supreme Court, Odds Lie Against Affirmative Action The Odds Against Affirmative Action
A Stereoscopic Music Video for Mint Julep's 'To the Sea' A Stereoscopic Music Video

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
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
A 150th-anniversary commemorative issue, with Atlantic work by Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and others. Read more ›

Just In

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

More From Carnival 2012

Feb 22, 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?