Aid fungibility in assessing aid: red herring or true concern?

This paper critically reviews Assessing Aid (World Bank, 1998), focussing on Chapter 3, which looks at public sector aspects of aid, specifically the issue of aid fungibility. Whilst Assessing Aid's focus on public sector aspects of aid is highly appropriate, it is based on a partial review of the literature and draws conclusions not entirely supported by the literature. We argue that fungibility itself is not an important concern, and distracts attention from what donors can do to ensure that more of their aid is allocated to areas that they want to support. Insufficient attention is paid to how aid impacts on public sector behaviour overall and how fiscal management can be improved.