斯塔尼斯拉夫·乌拉姆曾问萨缪尔森能不能找到一个社会科学中的理论，既是真的，又不是可有可无的。几年后，萨缪尔森说他找到了一个：大卫·李嘉图的经济学里的“比较优势理论”。萨缪尔森说：“其逻辑上的正确意见不容置疑，而且并非可有可无，因为千万个重要的聪明人都未能掌握这个理论的要点，或者不相信这个理论。”（英語：That it is logically true need not be argued before a mathematician; that is not trivial is attested by the thousands of important and intelligent men who have never been able to grasp the doctrine for themselves or to believe it after it was explained to them.）
萨缪尔森在新闻周刊里讲过这样一个经济学笑话：
为佐证华尔街对GNP的悲观预期，有评论员称华尔街成功预言了过去五次经济衰退中的四次。这显然低估了华尔街的能力，从股票指数来看，华尔街预言了过去五次经济衰退中的九次，那些错误美不胜收。（英語：To prove that Wall Street is an early omen of movements still to come in GNP, commentators quote economic studies alleging that market downturns predicted four out of the last five recessions. That is an understatement. Wall Street indexes predicted nine out of the last five recessions! And its mistakes were beauties.）
