Meta Brown is a Senior Economist in the Microeconomic Studies Function of the Research Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She has studied whether and when parents pay for their children's post-secondary education, and the influence of these decisions on students' ability to finance efficient human capital investments. Additional research on the family addresses the associations among marital status dynamics, fertility, and children's attainment, and their relationship to existing family law. Prior to joining the New York Fed, Dr. Brown was an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin.

She received her Ph.D. from New York University.