Abstract: The openness and transparency of fiscal information is a fundamental requirement of modern budget systems. It is not only a lever for promoting the modernization of national governance capabilities, but also a fundamental support for stimulating urban entrepreneurial vitality. Taking the implementation of the new Budget Law as the starting point, and based on the panel data and industrial and commercial enterprise registration data of China’s prefecture level cities from 2011 to 2023, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of fiscal transparency on urban entrepreneurial vitality. Research has found that the implementation of the new Budget Law has significantly enhanced urban entrepreneurial vitality, indicating that the increase in fiscal transparency has a significant promoting effect on urban entrepreneurial vitality. The mechanism testing shows that fiscal transparency mainly enhances urban entrepreneurial vitality through two ways: improving the level of urban public services and optimizing the urban business environment. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the stimulating effect of fiscal transparency on urban entrepreneurial vitality is more significant in cities with higher levels of economic development, non resource-based cities, and cities with higher levels of human capital. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously promote budget openness and transparency, establish and improve the budget disclosure system, strengthen the efficiency of public services, create a high-quality entrepreneurial ecological environment, strengthen the construction of the rule of law, and continue to optimize the business environment.

Key words: fiscal transparency, urban entrepreneurial vitality, new Budget Law, financial information disclosure