Man, I wish more of these quantitative social sciences programs existed when I was a college student. I would’ve jumped on them quickly.
-You’re applying to undergrad, not grad school, so you shouldn’t be selecting on the basis of the “undergraduate econ program” - you’re choosing a college/university as a whole, not a program. That said, both Northwestern and Berkeley have excellent economics departments.
-Both are very prestigious in the U.S. and internationally.
-Both will likely appeal equally to top graduate schools.
-Both have excellent job prospects after graduation.
This is one of those decisions where you could really flip a coin and come out fine. For post-graduation outcomes, it doesn’t matter which one you choose. You’ll do well at either, and you’ll do well after either. So really, you can (and should) make your choice on the basis of other factors. Because while academically and reputationally these schools are quite similar, in other senses they are very different.
Size: Berkeley has over 27,000 undergraduates and Northwestern only has 9,000. That’s a very different experience: a medium-sized undergraduate population vs. a quite large one.
Location: Berkeley is in the sunny, warm Bay Area, where the weather will stay nice year-round. Berkeley also has a pretty distinctive culture around it. Evanston is in the northern Midwest, which will get very cold during the winter. They are both very close to a major city - San Francisco and Chicago respectively, which also makes a difference - which one would you rather be close to? But even given that, I think Berkeley has more of a feel of a city in its own right whereas Evanston is more definitely a suburb of Chicago.
Student Body: Achievement-wise and academically the students will be quite similar. But 85% of Berkeley students come from California, whereas only 33% of Northwestern’s students come from Illinois. Still, CA is a really big and very diverse state. Both are pretty diverse racially/ethnically but Berkeley is likely to be more socioeconomically diverse.
There’s also the not-insignificant fact that Northwestern has a program you really want to apply to. Even if you don’t get into MMSS you’ll still be at a world-class university in a great department for your interests.