In spite of a growing literature on the subject, analyses of the policy impact of military regimes in Latin American remain inconclusive. Empirical analyses have neither confirmed or denied the proposition that military regimes have a decided, and often negative impact on public policy. In light of that, this essay attempts to test the relatively simple assumption that it is the degree of military control over the state apparatus (i.e. the relative 'depth' of militarization), rather than the advent of a military bureaucratic regime per se, that has the most influence on public policy outputs, here measured in budgetary allocations at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. (sdw).