Life Versus Money When Companies Weigh Up Consequences
In 1973 the Ford motor company published an innocent-sounding memo titled “Fatalities Associated with Crash Induced Fuel Leakage and Fires”.
The document, which went on to be known infamously as the “Pinto Memo”, used cost-benefit analysis to compare the price of modifications to the Ford Pinto to the societal costs for injuries and deaths related to fires caused by a…
