Megan Bea

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School of Human Ecology

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Curriculum Vitae

Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Consumer Science at University of Wisconsin–Madison. I have been trained as a Sociologist with expertise in working with original and secondary data. I use longitudinal econometric and spatial methods to study a range of topics related to household finance and well-being. My research program most closely align with the primary CDE research areas of Economic Demography and Spatial Demography. In one key research area, I take a life-course perspective to study family economic and financial dynamics over time and connections to social inequality. In another primary research area, I examine the socio-spatial causes and consequences of unequal access to services and amenities, with attention to implications for family and community health. 

CDE Research Area Affiliations:

Economic Demography; Spatial Demography (Co- Research Area Director, 2023-2025)

Selected Publications:

Amorim, Mariana, Megan Doherty Bea, and Asude Aydagul. 2026. “It’s a Last Resort but a First Resort’: A Relational Perspective of Payday Loan Use by American Families.” Sociological Quarterly. 

Bea, Megan Doherty, K. Bley, Jacob Faber, and Sewheat Haile. 2025. “Who Pays for Flooding? Local Flood Disasters and Racial Inequality in the Mortgage Market.” Human Ecology 1 – 20. 

Alyssa Goldman, Jessica Finlay, and Megan Doherty Bea. 2025. “Cognitively-protective Civic Sites and Recreational Amenities? Associations between U.S. County-Level Social Infrastructure and Dementia among Medicare Beneficiaries, 2020.” Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging. 

Bea, Megan Doherty. “A life course perspective of community (non) investment: Historical financial service trajectories and community outcomes.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 45, no. 2 (2024): 288-307.

Goldman, Alyssa W., and Megan Doherty Bea. “Banking on the Neighborhood? Inequalities in Older Adults’ Access to Local Banking and Neighborhood Perceptions.” The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 79, no. 4 (2024): gbad194.