As someone who went to USC as an undergraduate, I can guarantee you Boston College has a better Economics department than USC, academically speaking.
Boston College provides considerable intellectual leadership to the economics profession. Members of the department hold 28 editorial board positions on some of the leading journals of the profession. Department members include five co-editors of journals and one NIH review panel member. Four members of the department are NBER Research Associates and one is a Faculty Research Fellow. Three members of the department are Fellows of the Econometric Society.
BC has 40 faculties and 70 Economics Ph.D. Students while USC has 54 faculty and 62 Economics Ph.D. students.
The Boston College Economics department ranks 21stamong U.S. economics departments IEADS Economics Rankings | IDEAS/RePEc while USC ranks 41st.
Economics Rankings | IDEAS/RePEc