This statement is true. It reflects a fundamental principle of software quality engineering: the cost to find and fix a defect increases exponentially the later it is discovered in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Design and code inspections are static analysis techniques performed early in the lifecycle. They can identify errors in requirements, architecture, and logic before any code is executed. Fixing a design flaw by editing a document is far more economical than fixing the same flaw after it has been coded, integrated, and discovered during system testing, which would require extensive rework, re-coding, and re-testing.

B. False: This is incorrect because it contradicts decades of empirical evidence and established software engineering principles. The economic benefit of early defect detection through static methods like inspections is a cornerstone of modern quality assurance.

1. Boehm, B. W. (1981). Software Engineering Economics. Prentice-Hall. In Chapter 4, "The Cost of Software," Boehm presents seminal data showing the relative cost to fix errors increases dramatically from the requirements phase through the maintenance phase. A defect found in the design phase is orders of magnitude cheaper to fix than one found during system testing.

2. Fagan, M. E. (1976). Design and code inspections to reduce errors in program development. IBM systems journal, 15(3), 182-211. https://doi.org/10.1147/sj.153.0182 This foundational paper on software inspections provides data showing that formal inspections can find 60-90% of defects before the first test is ever run, demonstrating their high cost-effectiveness (see Section: "Inspection results," pp. 196-200).

3. Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science. (2016). 15-214 Principles of Software Construction: Objects, Design, and Concurrency, Lecture 1: Intro & Quality. Slide 22, "Relative Cost to Fix a Defect," visually represents the exponential cost increase, illustrating that a defect found post-product-release can be 100-1000 times more expensive to fix than one found during the design phase. This supports the economic argument for early detection via inspections.