Master's programs are either prep for PhD admission or for some sort of applied econ job.
In the first case, the brand doesn't really matter, so why shell out enormous amounts of money? What you'd want is a low-cost degree from a department whose faculty are competent, and motivated, to write good letters.
In the second case, you should do the master's where the jobs are. (Columbia might make sense, but you could get something similar from CUNY for less.)
Columbia's target market are probably wealthy foreign students.