Abstract: In the context of entering the new stage of development, promoting the achievement of high-quality economic development in the old revolutionary base areas has become a crucial task for the regional coordinated development in China. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has focused on the five major key old revolutionary base areas and successively introduced a series of supportive policies to provide comprehensive support in various aspects, including industry, ecology, and public services. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities spanning from 2009 to 2022, this paper conducts an empirical study using a double-difference model. The findings indicate that, firstly, the implementation of the supportive policies for the old revolutionary base areas has significantly promoted the high-quality economic development in these regions. Secondly, these supportive policies for the old revolutionary base areas has a positive impact on the high-quality economic development in those regions through enhancing their innovative capabilities, promoting the green transformation and development, addressing the shortcomings in public services, and optimizing land resource allocation. Notably, digital finance plays a positive regulatory role throughout this process. Thirdly, the high-quality economic development effects brought by the support policies for the old revolutionary base areas exhibit significant heterogeneity, with more favorable outcomes observed in the central and western regions, the areas with lower economic development levels, and the medium to small-sized cities. Consequently, it is necessary to increase policy support for the old revolutionary base areas, optimize the effectiveness of policy support, improve the economic development level of the old revolutionary base areas, thereby help these regions embark on a new journey of comprehensive socialist modernization construction.

Key words: old revolutionary base areas, supportive policies, high-quality economic development, double difference method