Patrick T. Brown
Fellow
Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work with the Life and Family Initiative focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society.
Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society.
His writing has been published in The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Post, and USA Today, and he has spoken on college campuses and Capitol Hill on topics from welfare reform to child-care and education policy.
He has published reports on paid leave and family policy with the Institute for Family Studies, and edited an essay series featuring working-class voices for American Compass. He is an advisory board member of Humanity Forward and the Center on Child and Family Policy and a contributing editor to Public Discourse.
Prior to joining EPPC, Patrick served as a senior policy advisor to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. There, he helped lead research about how to make it more affordable to raise a family and more effectively invest in youth and young adults. He also previously worked a government-relations staffer for Catholic Charities USA.
Patrick graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in political science and economics. He also holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He and his wife Jessica have four young children and live in Columbia, S.C.
Pro-family conservatism needs an economic vision
Patrick T. Brown
Conservatism has always been pro-family because what it means to be a conservative, almost by definition, is to treasure the hearth…
Articles
Washington Examiner / May 14, 2026
The real estate developer in chief notches a housing win
Patrick T. Brown
Donald Trump’s executive order captures a market truth. Want more affordable units? Build more.
Articles
The Washington Post / March 20, 2026
Marriage Got Better—So Why Is It Disappearing?
Patrick T. Brown
Desirable traits in a partner have less to do with finances and more to do with interpersonal skills. Some men are struggling to keep up.
Articles
The Dispatch / March 18, 2026
Revolutionary Fatherhood on the Silver Screen
Patrick T. Brown
The uncanny timing and uncomfortable political resonance of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another likely helped the film win the Academy…
Articles
Fairer Disputations / March 17, 2026
A blunt reality: Are we ready for the coming marijuana boom?
Patrick T. Brown
Weed in America is riding high. In 2011, no state in the union legally allowed cannabis for personal, non-medical use…
Articles
Angelus News / February 17, 2026
Big Tech Meets Big Fertility
Patrick T. Brown
If democracy means anything, it should mean some ability to take a deep breath before we permit Silicon Valley to hack baby-making in the same way it has remade so many other facets of our lives.
Articles
The Public Discourse / February 11, 2026
The White House’s false start on housing
Patrick T. Brown
It was only last month that President Donald Trump referred to the word “affordability” as a Democratic “con job.” His tune has…
Articles
The Washington Examiner / January 21, 2026
The Logical End of ‘Reproductive Freedom’
Patrick T. Brown
Barring legislative change, surrogacy’s dystopian edge cases will keep happening.
Articles
The Dispatch / December 18, 2025
How States Can Help Families
Patrick T. Brown
A pro-family policy agenda will require more than simply retrofitting existing anti-poverty programs to be slightly more accommodating of family life.
Articles
Civitas Institute / December 18, 2025
Liberal women have abandoned marriage
Patrick T. Brown
The fertility crisis in the United States is, in large part, a marriage crisis. Births to married women are only…
Articles
UnHerd / December 3, 2025
The Parental Arms Race Needs to End
Patrick T. Brown
In a world where “success” is increasingly understood as zero-sum, we might have some empathy for today’s parents who are worried they are letting their kids down if they are not setting them up to succeed, even if that comes at a collective cost.
Articles
The Public Discourse / November 23, 2025
Family Matters from Fellow Patrick T. Brown of the Life and Family Initiative is a weekly update on the policies and ideas that can better support parents and strengthen families as the essential building block of a healthy society.