How quickly does the guard change? (was: Economics, Shmeconomics)

[Russell Turpin]

Clay Shirkey wrote:
> .. As Kuhn pointed out, old idea are replaced with new 
> ones not when new evidence is presented, but when the 
> last of the holders of the old ideas dies. Contrary to 
> popular opinion, scientists tend to change their mind 
> about big framing ideas relatively infrequently. ..

So Kuhn claimed. Do we have any studies that 
verify this empirically? It should be possible, in 
chosen fields, to take now accepted ideas, look 
back at when they were first introduced, and see
how quickly those then in the field acquired and
then started teaching the new idea. There's
bound to be some time lag -- the real issue is
whether this is from resistance or inertia. I think 
I remember reading of someone who tried to 
evaluate this in physics, who claimed that Kuhn 
got it all wrong.  

Russell