measuring dynamic vs. static typing effectiveness

[Howard Stearns <address@hidden>]

[Just walking into the "room." Apologies if this has been discussed. 
Pointers to pre-existing answers appreciated.]

Can't we measure the effectiveness of static typing?

It seems like it should be simple to enumerate the ways in which 
compile-time type checking is meant to help, and to measure the 
effectiveness of each relative to a control.

I would think that a lot could be done with some simple modifications to 
a compiler. Effectiveness could be measured by hours to complete a task, 
perhaps among students, and perhaps compared/validated against contract 
programmers working on an analogous task so that a dollar value could be 
assigned.

(Not that I'd imagine that many programmers, pundits, or managers would 
be interested in the results!)