I would argue for the wealth bonus. I have seen their effects in conventional starts where I had a high wealth bonus leader, and you just accumulate SO much wealth. Basically, the benefits are a lot more front loaded than pop growth. You can sustain more buildings with a higher wealth bonus, or buy more minerals, which allows for more growth.
I suggest that after you get the 10,000 research cost C&P techs, go for Sector Command, because that will boost your economy by a lot for the 5,000 research cost. I figure if you have, say, a +10 miner, +10 construction, +10 shipyard, +10 wealth sector commander, 1/4 the bonus amounts to about 10 points, or roughly comparable to half the benefit you got from the 10k bonus. And if you have a lot of Naval Academies, you will likely have better leaders than that to choose from.
I wish financial centers were transportable like other installations are. Then you could just fill up your terraformed but mineral-less worlds with financial centers built elsewhere, and plunk a wealth bonus leader on them. Pretend the whole planet is a giant call center, cold call selling products made elsewhere to markets all over your empire.
