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

Abstract

A strong argument can be made for the prime importance of information in the context of an economic recession. It is in times of crisis that information on the state of the economy is abundant and citizens have incentives to acquire it in order to sanction incumbents for mismanagement of the economy. Simultaneously, however, economic hardship strains people's cognitive resources and motivations to seek relevant information. Using a novel research design, we assess how the recent economic recession has shaped information acquisition. Our results indicate that while personal economic hardship depresses levels of information, the recession overall boosted considerably the public's knowledge of the state of the economy and, to a lesser degree, of parties' policy positions in elections. For both economic and electoral types of information, economically marginal groups caught up to the economically secure in contexts of economic hardship, thereby reducing information inequalities. We discuss the findings' implications for representative democracy.

Does public approval shape news? Competing legitimacies and news headlines in the Philippines from Ramos to Aquino III

“…In periods of crises, the information gap between the elites and the public widens such that the average citizen is unable to understand complex jargon and processes on their own, and would turn to the interpretation and advice of perceived experts such as economic and political advisers (Carmines and Stimson 1980;Gilens and Murakawa 2002). Crises, therefore, induce information-seeking behaviour among citizens and make them susceptible to the narratives presented by media (Marinova et al 2018). This is particularly apparent in the Philippines where citizens are at risk because of the lack of social protection (Gonzalez and Manasan 2002), and are already apprehensive of the government (Abinales and Amoroso 2017).…”

From Economic Crisis to a Crisis of Representation? The Relationship Among Economic Conditions, Ideological Congruence, and Electoral Participation

“…In times of economic crisis, citizens become more attentive and informed and are more willing to respond to the bad situation (Burden and Amber, 2014). Also, economic hardship boosts information, and citizens learn more about parties' policy positions (Marinova and Anduiza 2020). In such a context, in which citizens are more concerned about the situation, turnout is a powerful mechanism to express support or dislike toward the policies implemented by the government.…”

“…In this respect, the contradictory studies analyzing the impact of the economy on turnout (Blais 2006;Passarelli and Tuorto 2014;Weschle 2014) would be better assessed when also considering microlevel factors that make some citizens' behavior more or less likely to be affected by contextual changes. If the pursuit of policy representation is relevant to mobilize voters, it is worth considering that in a context of economic turbulences, citizens would more easily acquire information about what policies represent each party as there would be more information available (Marinova and Anduiza 2020), and, consequently, voters have a better understanding of the electoral menu and have more resources to make their choice, which leads to a higher likelihood of turnout (Smets and van Ham 2013;Çakır 2021;Park 2021). Similarly, when the national economy is bad, citizens might have more incentives to have their interests represented in the national parliament because they have more to lose, and, in such a context, having a congruent option in the choice set would increase the utility that they gain from voting even more.…”

La juventud después de la austeridad. Comportamiento y actitudes políticas

“…In fact, the economic crisis diminished the traditional gap in terms of individual socioeconomic positions, at least in what concerns low-cost modes of political action (Rodon and Guinjoan 2018). Is also considerably boosted the public's knowledge of the state of the economy and reduced information inequalities (Marinova and Anduiza 2018).…”