Does It Pay to Participate in Decision-making? Survey Evidence on Land Co-management in Jiangsu Province, China

•We assess the impact of participation in decision-making on members' land income;•Local elites are more likely to participate in decision-making;•Participation in decision-making increase members' land income;•Broad participation in decision-making should be encouraged.

Member participation in decision-making is a critical part of resource co-management. However, little is known about the welfare consequences of participation. This paper analyzes the impact of cooperative member participation in decision-making on their incomes, using data from 364 members of China's land cooperative program. We distinguish two levels of participation in decision-making - voting and obtaining financial information - and use a bivariate probit model and propensity score matching to estimate their impact. The results indicate that household head's age, gender and education and family size, wealth, and political affiliation determine participation in decision-making. Participation in either voting or obtaining financial information has a positive impact on cooperative members' land income. There is also a strong joint effect of voting and obtaining information, with an increase in land income of > 16%. We conclude that broad participation can ensure more equitable access to land income for members.