José Luis Sampedro Sáez (Barcelona, 1 February 1917 – Madrid, 8 April 2013[1]) was a Spanish economist and writer who advocated an economy "more humane, more caring, able to help develop the dignity of peoples".

[5] After the war, he obtained work as a customs officer in Santander before moving to Madrid, where, in 1944, he married Isabel Pellicer before completing his university studies in Economics in 1947, winning, in the process, the award of an "Extraordinary Prize".

Meanwhile, he published academic works about the post economic reality and structural analysis and the European future of Spain and also wrote his first theatrical play A place to live (1955).

Along with other teachers, Sampedro created the Spanish Center for Studies and Research (CEISA), a symbol of intellectual independence which would be closed in Francoist Spain three years later.

In 1968, he was appointed as Anna Howard Shaw lecturer at Bryn Mawr College for women in Philadelphia USA On his return to Spain, he requested a leave of absence from Complutense University and published a satirical play called the naked horse.

In reference to this, he collaborated with the Anti-austerity movement in Spain during May 2011 by writing the preface to the Spanish edition of the book Time for Outrage by the French diplomat Stéphane Hessel.

Additionally, the Spanish Council of Ministers awarded Sampedro the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain on 15 November 2010 for "his outstanding literary career and his thought committed to the problems of his time".