Central–local fiscal policy orientation consistency and high-quality economic development in energy cities: Evidence from China

In the context of China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy, the high-quality economic development of energy cities faces challenges such as prominent environmental pressures and insufficient impetus for transformation. Consistency between central and local fiscal policy orientations constitutes an effective channel for promoting the high-quality development of energy cities. Based on the textual data of government work reports of Chinese energy cities from 2013 to 2020, this study constructs an indicator for central–local fiscal policy orientation consistency and employs a high-dimensional fixed-effects model to examine its impact on the high-quality economic development of energy cities. The results indicate that greater consistency between central and local fiscal policy orientations significantly enhances the high-quality economic development of energy cities, primarily through the pathways of innovation-driven and open development. Further analysis reveals that this promoting effect is more pronounced in cities with higher resource dependence and greater fiscal pressure.