This Aropū paper, part of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga’s Te Arotahi policy paper series, is a short impact brief summarising the main insights from Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Wellbeing Economies, a book by Professor Chellie Spiller and colleagues (Spiller, 2025). Their research examines whānau-centred approaches to inclusive and sustainable prosperity. These findings foreground Māori wellbeing economies that are place-based, whakapapa-anchored, and oriented to intergenerational wellbeing.
Te ōhanga Māori | The Māori economy
Since 2010, much effort has gone into measuring the size, composition and contribution of te ōhanga Māori, also known as the Māori economy (Nana, 2011; Nana 2015; Nana, 2021; Schulze, 2024). In 2023, the Māori economic contribution to the New Zealand economy was estimated at $32 billion (8.9 per cent of GDP), which was nearly double its value in 2018 ($17 billion) (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, n.d.). With a fast-growing and diversifying Māori asset base (up from $69 billion in 2018 to $126 billion in 2023), there is a great deal of interest in the success stories of post-settlement governance entities, Māori trusts, exporters and entrepreneurs. The core interest of this research is how whānau participate in, shape and benefit from te ōhanga Māori, locally, relationally and over generations. What pathways enable whānau to grow livelihoods and intergenerational wellbeing, given well-documented distributional inequities?
The latest research published by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga titled Towards Māori Wellbeing Economies addresses these questions, combining qualitative research with whānau, whānau business case studies, and an analysis of wellbeing economy theories and models. The research offers practical steps for strengthening whānau connections and building capacities for mana motuhake and intergenerational flourishing through locally led, place-based enterprise. It centres the relational economy, whānau, whenua, awa and moana, as the foundation of prosperity.