An Economic Theory of Political Communication Effects: How the Economy Conditions Political Learning

Abstract

Politics and economics are inextricably linked. This article argues that the economy has been an underdeveloped contextual variable capable of coordinating the process and consequences of political communication. A theoretical model connecting microindividual outcomes to macrosocial functioning is proposed to capture the dynamic ecology of citizens' political involvement. In particular, the economic environment is theorized to impact voters' news media use and political learning through a series of mechanisms. It is maintained that the study of political communication benefits from considering macroeconomic variables, which brings more explanatory power to models of political communication effects, tests the economic rationality of the electorate in response to variegated social settings, and builds a political communication effects theory that addresses both micro-and macrofactors.

When Bad News is Good News: Information Acquisition in Times of Economic Crisis

“…Three arguments may be made for the economy's primary role in understanding information acquisition during an economic crisis (Shen 2009). For one, the economy is essentially a valence issue, such that all citizens support economic prosperity and are alarmed when the economy plummets.…”

“…Second, an economic recession is likely to trigger alarm among the public and generate grievances about the management of the economy. Such alarm can motivate citizens to seek further information in order to sanction incumbent governments for mismanagement of the economy (Shen 2009). A number of studies have shown that information seeking tends to increase with the onset of intense political events that trigger alarm among the general public (Bennett & Paletz 1994;Page & Shapiro 1992;Prior 2002).…”

“…Voters in contexts of worsening economic conditions are exposed to less clear policy information because populist parties tend to blur intentionally their positions on economic policy (Rovny 2013) while mainstream parties implement externally imposed austerity policies in discord with their electoral programs (English et al 2016;Talving 2017). While citizens in contexts of economic crisis may well have greater incentives to acquire political information, as per Shen (2009), without the ready accessibility of clear policy information, such incentives are less likely to translate into familiarity with party positions. This leads us to expect that if a macroeconomic recession boosts knowledge of electoral alternatives, as per Hypothesis 2, the effect is likely to be modest.…”

“…Economic duress ought to then stymy the acquisition of new information. On the other hand, economic crises provide a context in which the issues at stake ought to motivate citizens to pay close attention to politicians' decisions and keep abreast of the economic and political situation (Martin 2008;Shen 2009).…”

Assessing the tone of televised economic messages during economic recovery: Positive and negative, global and local

“…Naturally, even if the information conveyed by the media does not always accurately reflect the economic situation (Hetherington, 1996), the actual circumstances do have an impact on its tone (Shen, 2009). We therefore first provide an overview of the state of the Israeli economy at the time the study was conducted (the first part of 2010).…”