Edinburgh or Saint Andrews for economics

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk states that Edinburgh has research quality of 82% for Economics and St Andrews has 74%.

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk states that Edinburgh has research quality of 82% for Economics and St Andrews has 74%. 91% of Economics graduates from Edinburgh are currently doing something related to their future plans, 84% at St Andrews. St Andrews manages to get higher than Edinburgh overall for this subject because of entry standards and student satisfaction. Because St Andrews is a much smaller university, and because it is increasingly popular, they can afford to ask for higher grades sometimes than Edinburgh because St Andrews won't have any trouble filling spaces because they're well known in America as a very old, attractive, quaint looking, more affordable, alternative to somewhere similar looking like Princeton. St Andrews require ABB minimum (based on A-Level there) but at present AAA is usually the typical entry standard. Edinburgh seem to be less easy to find what their minimum or typical entry standard are.
It's not just size that hinders St Andrews QS rankings. Edinburgh is just technically academically better overall anyway. 76% of Edinburgh's staff conduct high quality research, with an average quality standard of 85%. At St Andrews it's 71% of staff and 83% quality.
So why do so many people go on about St Andrews when the likes of Lancaster, Sheffield, Bath, Southampton, Bristol and KCL are technically better in research?
Because it looks pretty, because of its traditions, because it's very old and respected enough to get noticed, because its relatively small size and the nature of the place mean some people say it's like joining a family, because of who it attracts. 40% of its intake are from private schools, more than any other UK university.

Figures on private school intake from last year show St Andrews on 36%, Edinburgh on 31.8% (Durham on 39%).

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk states that Edinburgh has research quality of 82% for Economics and St Andrews has 74%. 91% of Economics graduates from Edinburgh are currently doing something related to their future plans, 84% at St Andrews. St Andrews manages to get higher than Edinburgh overall for this subject because of entry standards and student satisfaction. Because St Andrews is a much smaller university, and because it is increasingly popular, they can afford to ask for higher grades sometimes than Edinburgh because St Andrews won't have any trouble filling spaces because they're well known in America as a very old, attractive, quaint looking, more affordable, alternative to somewhere similar looking like Princeton. St Andrews require ABB minimum (based on A-Level there) but at present AAA is usually the typical entry standard. Edinburgh seem to be less easy to find what their minimum or typical entry standard are.
It's not just size that hinders St Andrews QS rankings. Edinburgh is just technically academically better overall anyway. 76% of Edinburgh's staff conduct high quality research, with an average quality standard of 85%. At St Andrews it's 71% of staff and 83% quality.
So why do so many people go on about St Andrews when the likes of Lancaster, Sheffield, Bath, Southampton, Bristol and KCL are technically better in research?
Because it looks pretty, because of its traditions, because it's very old and respected enough to get noticed, because its relatively small size and the nature of the place mean some people say it's like joining a family, because of who it attracts. 40% of its intake are from private schools, more than any other UK university.

Thank you so much for your answer. From this table we can also see that even if Saint Andrews conduct less high quality research, they are higher overall( 6 vs 12). My question is whether this will be an advantage if I want to go to oxbridge for a master's in economics or whether the two universities will give me the same chances of getting in with equivalent grade. Thank you in advance and I'm sorry if these questions might sound stupid, but I'm not very familiar with the UK system.