by davypi
I'm actually worried that neither game would be good for you. Looking at the games you've rated in your profile, you've never played a worker placement game. (Keyflower is close to being a worker placement game, but its really an auction mechanic that took a couple of worker placement classes when it was a freshman in college. This is not a diss against the game, I'm just saying I don't think it really serves as a good intro for what worker placement games are like.) Le Havre is on the medium/heavy end of the worker placement spectrum. It also usually runs over an hour per person, so even with two I would expect a 150 minute game which may or may not be a deal breaker for you. Agricola is closer to a middle weight game. I wouldn't really suggest either as anyone's first worker placement game, but I know a lot of non gamer's who have picked up Agricola and seem to enjoy it, so I could easily be wrong there. Anyway, I would actually look at All Creatures Big and Small first. Its a simplified version of Agricola with a short playing time, but I would still classify it as a medium level game. It will give you a good taste of what worker placement is like and also keep you inside the Rosenberg universe. Its also cheaper, so if it turns out you don't like worker placement, it not as big of a risk.Glass Road might be another one to look at. It has a role selection mechanic to it, but the way you choose your cards dictates whether or not you will be able to copy the action other players take. So it uses the action selection that you've seen in Race for the Galaxy but adds another level of bluffing to it. The way resource management is handled is also a bit more streamlined that what you see in Le Havre. The game is a bit less complex and plays faster, but I would still solidly place it in the medium weight category. I think play time is near 30 min/player, so again, shortish.
If you don't like those suggestions and want to go outside the world of Rosenberg, I wonder if Stone Age or Lord of Waterdeep might be better start for worker placement. I don't know if you do game days at any of your local stores, but its pretty easy to find a copy of Agricola, Stone Age, and/or Waterdeep so I would really suggest trying to get into a game with someone else to see if you like worker placement. Hopefully you talk with one of the people you've played with and they can explain how these all differ from each other and point you in the direction you are looking for.
If the wife likes econony-like games, I might actually suggest either Airlines Europa or Concordia. Airlines is closer to a gateway level game but, like Acquire, controlling the value of airline stocks is part of the gameplay. There is some nice indirect player interaction here as you can manipulate the value of stock you own (or don't own). (If you want something even more basic, Chicago Express is a good game in a similar vein - build railroads to manipulate stock prices. It plays in a shorter time, although opinions about it are rather divisive in my experience.)
Concordia is maybe another good one to push you towards. It uses a role selection mechanic, kind of like Race for the Galaxy, but the action you choose isn't shared. You build colonies and acquire "personalities", which produce resources, which you sell for cash/other resources, which let you build more colonies and personalities, and so on. The personalities you buy somewhat regulate the actions you can take and also dictate how you score points, so you can customize how your economy works by what actions you acquire. Its really more an economic engine building game than an economy manipulation game, but its still probably something in the direction I think you are looking for.