[1] In the latter post he was part of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi[7] and was close to the Democratic Party of the Left.

[8] From 1988 to 1989 Spaventa served as the chairman of the scientific consulting for the management of the public debt formed by the Italian treasury.

[10] In 1994, he became a member of the editorial board of the journals, Moneta e Credito and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review.

[14][15] Spaventa was named as the non-executive vice chairman of the board of Banca Profilo SpA on 8 June 2009.

[9] His other posts include research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, based in London, member of the steering committee of the Euro 50 Group and a member of the “Group of Wise Men”, appointed by European ECOFIN on the regulation of European securities markets.

[2] In 1962 Spaventa married a British woman, Clare Royce, an economist to whom he had been introduced by Amartya Sen.[16][17] They had three children.