Reviewing the evidence behind the claims on Maori health

Ian Harrison of Tailrisk Economics has published a paper analysing the evidence behind the claims that disparity in health outcomes between Maori and non-Maori is due to colonialism and racism. His summary is:

Our main conclusion is that there is very little robust empirical evidence that racism contributes materially to the gap in life expectancy. The main drivers are different smoking and obesity rates. Other behavioural differences such as higher risk taking may also contribute. The response by the institutions and individuals pushing the racism narrative would be that this is a superficial understanding and that the differences are driven by more fundamental causes such as differential access to resources, which are in turn are the result of colonialism. But this claim is never substantiated, and on the limited data on the issue it appears that resources are not really the issue. The gaps primarily come back to behaviour.

His full paper is below.