Politics and the economy are inextricably linked. This study argues that the economy has been an under-developed contextual variable capable of coordinating the process and consequences of political communication. An economic theory of political communication effects is proposed to capture the dynamic ecology of citizens’ political involvement. In particular, economic conditions are theorized to impact voters’ news media use and political learning through a series of mechanisms.The study analyzed fifty years of ANES (American National Election Studies) data through using multilevel modeling techniques. Results show that a) both the “bad news-prone” media and economically-rational voters were reactive to serious economic declines; b) based on subjective value judgments, political information from the news media was perceived to carry different levels of gratifications and utilities under different economic conditions; and c) voters with different levels of learning motivation exhibited varying degrees of learning effects through seeking and absorbing campaign information from the news media. The contribution of this study lies in its focus on one societal level variable, the economy to examine political communication effects. Given that informed participation strikes at the very heart of representative democracy, it is important to understand the underlying processes and mechanisms of political learning from both micro and macro perspectives. The current study provides solid evidence to support the arguments from existing literature on the role of motivation, media use, and information environment in learning about politics. In addition, a causal flow is established from the presence of an economic crisis, to learning motivation, to news exposure, and finally to knowledge acquisition.It is maintained that the study of political communication can benefit from considering macro economic variables, which can bring more explanatory power to models of political communication effects, test the degree of economic rationality of the electorate in response to variegated social settings, and build a political communication effects theory that addresses both micro- and macro- factors.