[jemowkd]

Many universities allow you to take modules outside your degree courses. Especially if you are doing a single honour degree, like economics, you'll have 'outside' choices which you can use to study whatever interests you that the uni offers, like psychology.

Another option which I assume you were implying in your OP is going for combined honours. Some unis do have economics and psychology. For some unis, even if when you apply they may not formally have joint degrees in the two subjects, if you go there for one subject and take the appropriate modules for the other, they will let you graduate with a combined degree like 'economics and/with psychology' or 'psychology with economics', etc. In either case, wherever you go chances are that you will be able choose to study some psychology at some point if you want, whether part of degree or not.

One key factor for your decision not mentioned above is your future ambition. I myself encountered a similar dilemma but for classics. I enjoyed classics but I came to realise that once I graduate my employability would not be the highest for a finance-related path (in my country this is the case) which was where I wanted to go when I go back to my country. So I rejected my offers, took a gap year and reapplied for a joint degree in philosophy and economics. I'm really happy I did this because philosophy was one of the biggest attractions for applying for classics previously and because I think it is even more interesting when studied with economics or politics. So whilst I increased my chances in the job market no harm was done as I am still studying what I want to study. Plus, I think studying two different subjects and how they relate is fascinating. The downside, perhaps was that it took me two years to realise the walls of reality that studying only what you like may not be enough.

I would agree with your parents in that (depending on your intended career path) economics is worth studying. Considering your strong interest in psychology I would suggest the combined degrees because you get to study what you want whilst keeping your options open for the future. This diversity is likely to turn out to be an advantage too.

[.ACS.]

In regard to the statistics content of an economics programme, any decent programme will contain a lot - a mixture of theory and applied. All the top universities for economics will have about a quarter of their degrees in econometrics. It's without a doubt the most useful toolkit you will take away from your economics degree.

As for how much of economics is related to psychology, well there are branches which make extensive use of psychology - experimental economics, behavioural economics, behavioural finance. But it is unlikely you will cover much of this at all in your undergraduate degree.

The core of microeconomics is based on production theory and consumer theory. Consumer theory is modelling the behaviour of economic agents within an economic world/framework. So this probably comes close to what you want, but it is still far removed, and is quite mathematical and abstract. You will deal with utility maximisation subject to budget constraints or similar. But by the sounds of it, you would want to focus more on the derivations of the utility functions, whereas for the most part we take these as given, or at least they are based on set assumptions which we don't deviate from.

In all honesty, if you want to do a psychology degree, talk with your parents and just go for it. You'll be far happier and you'll actually enjoy your degree and end up doing better than you would otherwise.