<p>I would agree with Zant that it's viewed as more prestigious from without than within.</p>
<p>Also, have you thought about doing Econ with a WWS certificate? There's also the program in Political Economy, although I don't know too much about that.</p>
<p>Lastly, it sounds like one professor you would <em>love</em> is Daniel Kahneman, who won a Nobel Prize a few years ago (for Economics, I think), and gave the opening address for the class of '08. He often talks about decision-making in various contexts, and when I attended a special dinner at Wu this spring with him, he talked about the keys to being happy, and gave what I thought was a pretty sound explanation, which follows:</p>
<p>Kahneman noted that there are certain experiences that we're more conscious of while we're doing them than others. For example, the first time you drove a car, you were very conscious that you were doing just that -- driving a car. But now that you've been driving for a year or two, probably, you don't really think about driving, or being in a car, for that matter, while you drive. But if you're on a roller coaster, you're definitely going to be aware that you're <em>on</em> a roller coaster.</p>
<p>OK, so what's the point? Kahneman's thesis was that, given a certain amount of disposible resources, you should apply those resources towards those ends and activities which you'll be conscious of while your doing them. What are some examples? Well, according to this model, laying out $65,000 for a Lexus SUV probably isn't very likely to make you happy: you'll tend to zone out while you're driving, and accessories like leather seats, a nice stereo, and so on, are things that you're going to become accustomed to, and, thus, appreciate them less -- in effect, an "appreciation depreciation!" :-) A good investment for happiness, on the other hand, might be spending the $65,000 on an incredibly lavish vacation. If you're getting completely pampered (and if you're not normally pampered at home) at the Ritz in Paris for two weeks, eating at five-star restaurants every night, and so on, these are experiences that you're very likely to be aware that you're participating in, while you're participating them. Therefore, even though the Lexus SUV may be nice, because you'll be less conscious of its niceness while you're in it, than you will be of the niceness of the Paris Ritz, you're likely to get more <em>happiness</em> (although perhaps less bang for your buck) from the Paris trip than the Lexus.</p>
<p>Another topic Kahneman talked about was perceived happiness, and I'll go for brevity on this one. Most people, if asked how they would feel if they won the lottery, think they would feel very happy. Yet Kahneman's research has shown that while lottery winners do tend to be very happy after they win the lottery, after about 6-12 months, they're only as happy as they were before they hit the jackpot. So while winning (or imagining yourself winning) will make you happy in the short term, in the long term, overflowing coffers won't necessarily equate to happiness. The same was true when Kahneman asked people how they would feel if they lost a limb: those interviewed thought they would feel less happy, and those who had recently lost a limb were less happy than they were before they lost a limb, but those who had lived for a longer span of time since losing their limb were, on average, no less happy than four-limbed people.</p>
<p>I think it's fairly clear that you can take a lot of this stuff to interesting applications in business and economics -- that's why Kahneman won the Nobel -- but a lot of this stuff is interesting just on its own. Prof. Kahneman's website is:</p>
<p><a href="http://webscript.princeton.edu/%7Epsych/psychology/research/kahneman/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://webscript.princeton.edu/~psych/psychology/research/kahneman/index.php</a></p>