| Abstract | In Hong Kong every year many thousands of volunteers provide a service beyond price. The qualities they bring to their work cannot be bought for any sum of money. Any attempt to replace it with paid work would change its very nature, replacing a relationship based on social responsibility and mutual aid with one based on financial gain. The fact that volunteer service work is priceless, however, should not be allowed to devalue the significant contribution it makes to the Hong Kong economy. A new approach would be to place an overall economic value on volunteer service by using the simple formula of ascribing a notional hourly wage to each hour of volunteer service work undertaken over the course of a year. |
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