An economy of mana: what public sector cuts really cost

As the New Zealand Government signals 8,700 public sector job cuts, University of Auckland Business School doctoral candidate Xiaoliang Niu says Aotearoa needs to rethink what economic value really means.

The proposed public sector changes have been framed around efficiency, streamlining and cost savings. The Government says the changes would save $2.4 billion and reduce the core public service workforce by 14 percent over three years.

Niu, whose research explores te ao Māori and the economy, management and sustainable circular economies, says that approach risks measuring success only by what has been removed, rather than what is sustained.

“A strong economy is not just one that spends less,” says Niu. “It is one that sustains the relationships, capabilities, institutions, communities and natural systems on which collective wellbeing depends.”

He says Aotearoa has an opportunity to take a more innovative approach to economic transition.

Current debates around public sector restructuring and increased use of AI across the public sector, he says, reflect a particular way of measuring economic value that prioritises short-term fiscal savings over long-term resilience.

"As I have come to understand through my doctoral research, a te ao Māori perspective offers a broader way of assessing economic decisions. Concepts such as whakapapa, mauri and utu ask different questions about decision-making. They ask whether change strengthens or diminishes the wellbeing of people, institutions and places over time."

Niu says these principles align with what Māori scholars and practitioners describe as an “economy of mana”, an approach that measures economic activity by whether it upholds dignity, strengthens relationships, enhances collective wellbeing and regenerates the conditions that allow people and communities to flourish.

“This is not about rejecting efficiency or innovation,” he says. “It’s about asking what kind of efficiency we are pursuing, who carries the cost, and whether the wider system is stronger or weaker as a result.” 

Niu says new technologies, such as AI tools, can support public institutions to work more efficiently, but they should not be treated as a simple substitute for people, institutional knowledge or public capability.

“A sustainable transition should ask whether New Zealand has built the digital and social foundations needed for that shift,” he says.

“It should also ask whether people can still access essential public services in timely and equitable ways, and whether those whose roles are affected are supported to retrain, redeploy and contribute in new ways.”

His research suggests circular economy thinking offers a useful lens. While circular economy models are often associated with materials, waste and resource efficiency, Niu says one of the underlying principles is that value should remain in circulation rather than being extracted, depleted or discarded.

“That applies to materials and ecosystems, but it also applies to people, skills, knowledge, public capability and community wellbeing,” he says.

“From an economy of mana and circular economy perspective, skills and institutional knowledge are forms of value. They should be renewed and kept in circulation, not treated as costs to be removed when immediate savings are needed.”

Niu says Aotearoa is well placed to lead more creative thinking about economic transition because of its size, adaptability and existing Indigenous economic frameworks.

“New Zealand is small enough to be agile, adaptive and innovative. We also have current examples of Māori enterprises that are economically viable while being grounded in intergenerational responsibility, care for whenua and collective measures of success.”

He says the public sector cuts raise a larger question about how Aotearoa defines prosperity.

“Rather than defaulting to models that measure success primarily by what has been cut, we can ask how technology, public capability and economic redesign might work together.

“An economy of mana encourages us to ask how transition can enhance collective wellbeing, how value can keep circulating through communities, and how economic systems can become more resilient across generations.”