Baumol's left-leaning economic ideology is, to a large extent, due to his Marxist upbringing. According to Baumol, the success of economics "is to be measured primarily to the extent to which it can help to reduce unemployment and poverty and to improve the quality of life. However, in arguing this I should not be taken to be questioning the value of "pure" economic research....The only caveat I would address to those who are engaged in very abstract research is to urge the utmost caution before hastening to apply its results to the complex issues of reality."

Baumol also spends much of his time working on painting and sculpture, and even teaches a course in wood sculpture at Princeton University.

According to Mark Blaug, Baumol is an advocate of a falsificationist methodology. Other economists who advocate this methodolgy are: Harrod, Koopmans, Friedman, Samuelson, and Boulding.

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