There is no Pākehā GDP, nor Māori GDP. The Government has published statistics that are wrong. NZ does not have two economies – only one.

• Robert MacCulloch writes –

I’ve been thinking – ever since the Leader of Te Pāti Māori said that the new National-ACT-NZ First Coalition wrote a Pākehā Budget for the Pākehā Economy. It’s a great line. But does it make sense? Do we have two economies – a Māori one and a Pākehā one, each with its own Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? I am going to argue neither exist. What’s more, Wellington has wasted millions of tax-payers dollars calculating incorrect GDP figures for the Māori & Pākehā economies. The term, “Māori Economy”, is sometimes traced back to a report published in 2012 by the Bureau of Economic Research Ltd (BERL), a Wellington consulting firm run by Ganesh Nana, the redundant former head of the defunct Productivity Commission. It has now been adopted right throughout government.