A new economics, grounded in whakapapa.
Whakapapa Economics has its own whakapapa — ideas woven together from mātauranga Māori and economics.
A Māori-grounded way of making relational and intergenerational value visible, it traces how value moves through people, whānau, place, institutions, te taiao and future generations. Matatihi wove the method together, published it openly, and stewards it. This page is an overview; the full framework, including the method paper and an interactive Pathway Explorer, lives at whakapapaeconomics.nz.
What it is
Whakapapa Economics is an applied way of thinking about value. It starts from the idea that people are connected through relationships, obligations, place and time. A programme may change one person, but that change can also move through whānau, communities, institutions, te taiao and future generations.
It does not replace existing impact, social value or cost-benefit methods. It extends and deepens them by changing the value boundary: who and what counts, how far value travels, and how relational and intergenerational pathways are made visible.
Why it is needed
Many Māori entities need to show their impact to funders, agencies, boards and communities. Current impact methods can be useful, but they often focus on short-term, individual and easily measured outcomes. This can understate the real value created by Māori initiatives, especially where value moves through whānau, whakapapa, whenua, culture, trust, capability and future generations.
Wider, not looser.
Value does not stop at the individual.
Value moves.
It can move through whānau, communities, providers, institutions and places.
Value unfolds.
It can unfold across future opportunities, mokopuna, ecological inheritance and long-term capability.
Value stays disciplined.
Wider value still needs clear pathways, observable signals and careful boundaries.
One of the principles the method draws on is tauutuutu, the Māori practice of escalating reciprocity, which you can read about on this site.
The method first asks what kind of value may be created. It then traces how that value moves, defines the specific change, looks for signals, tests the evidence, and only then decides what can be quantified or valued. We follow this sequence in every assessment, but how far we go at each step depends on the kaupapa, the context and the evidence available.
Context
Start with the kaupapa, people, place and relationships.
Pathways
Trace how value may move.
Constructs
Define the specific change.
Signals
Look for signs that the pathway is present.
Evidence
Test the strength of the evidence.
Value
Value what can be defended.
See how it works in full, or try the free Pathway Explorer, an interactive tool for tracing possible value pathways. No sign-up.
What it does not claim
Whakapapa Economics does not put a price on whakapapa, mana, mauri, wairua or tikanga. It looks for observable pathways that may arise when these values are upheld in practice, such as reduced whakamā, stronger participation, restored hosting capacity, healthier homes, improved ecological condition or greater whānau capability.
Where it applies
The method has been worked through in six settings, each published as a vignette showing the pathways, signals and cautions that matter:
Where the method comes from
The method grew out of years of applied work: impact assessments where the standard value boundary kept excluding outcomes that clients and communities knew were real. Rather than stretch each assessment ad hoc, Matatihi wove the approach together and published it openly. Anyone may use it. Matatihi stewards the method and remains the applied practice behind it.
Where outcomes move through whānau, place and generations, we apply the method in our impact assessment work to widen the value boundary while keeping evidence disciplined. It is not a separate service; it is part of how we think.
The discipline's documented whakapapa
Whakapapa Economics did not appear from nowhere. It draws on published, peer-reviewed work, so "it has its own whakapapa" is a matter of record rather than a turn of phrase:
- Tauutuutu — Reid, Rout & Whitehead (2019). The economic thinking behind tauutuutu, a documented root of the discipline.
- Indigenising the blue economy in Aotearoa New Zealand — Marine Policy (2024). Mātauranga Māori woven into applied economics, peer-reviewed.
- How to indigenise the blue economy in Aotearoa New Zealand — Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online (2025). The fusion, still active and in print.
Method documents
The method paper, which sets out the theoretical and technical foundations in detail, is open access at whakapapaeconomics.nz/method-paper. Further method documents will be published on this page as they are released.
The Whakapapa Economics approach is the most technically robust impact accounting I have seen applied to our kaupapa.
From the independent review
Before publication, the method was independently reviewed by a small group of senior Māori academics and economists — people working at the highest levels of Māori research and economic impact in Aotearoa. We have kept their names off this page out of respect for the nature of that review, and we are happy to discuss it directly with anyone weighing up the method.
Our wider work is already internationally published — in Marine Policy, Ecological Indicators and Business Strategy and the Environment, among others. A peer-reviewed journal article setting out the method in full is in preparation.
What Whakapapa Economics produces
Get in touch
Talk to the practice behind the method.
If you are wondering whether Whakapapa Economics fits your kaupapa, the first kōrero is free and needs no preparation.
Get in touch