The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success</a>.""/>The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success</a>.""/>The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success</a>.""/>

Megan McArdle

Columnist
Megan McArdle is a Washington Post columnist and the author of "The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success."
Latest from Megan McArdle

How today’s Twitter has made conservative boycotts more successful

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, young progressives no longer skew conversations on the platform to the left.

July 10, 2023

Why there’s reason to believe American democracy has a bright future

For all the bad, the United States is better than it thinks itself. And in the future, it will be better still.

July 3, 2023

In the court’s ruling on gay wedding websites, free speech won

The justices had good reason to prioritize First Amendment rights over access to private goods and services.

June 30, 2023

From the Hoover Dam to the Second Avenue subway, America builds slower

U.S. infrastructure projects try to deliver too much, from higher wages to racial justice.

June 27, 2023

What happened in Russia — and what happens next? Our columnists weigh in.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin's coup-that-wasn't has left the world wondering what happens next in Russia — and in Ukraine. The Post's columnists share their insights.

June 26, 2023

Generous student loan programs make school more expensive

New evidence suggests William Bennett was right when he said, in 1987, that federal student aid policies enable colleges to raise tuition.

June 20, 2023

Reddit followed Goodwill’s playbook. Now Redditors are on strike.

The social media company's greatest asset — its cadre of volunteer moderators — might not want the company to become profitable.

June 15, 2023

There might be no such thing as a legal American crypto exchange

But cryptocurrency enthusiasts can’t stall regulators forever by coming up with yet another thing it might be good for, someday.

June 12, 2023

America needs a West Point for police officers

A national training center for cops could be a place to research what works in policing, and to transmit that information to new generations of police.

June 5, 2023

The road to fully self-driving car transport may be perilous

Today's human-drivers-only system may be safer than a mixed environment in which sometimes the cars are driving and sometimes the people are.

May 31, 2023