The present work argues which would be the perspectives of the local management of il the economic development in Brazil, centering itself in the following questions: the jf route of the economic initiatives that are being adopted; the place that such initiatives occupy in the set of the municipal politics; and the instruments that the local government make use to act in this scope. The experiences of two brazilian capitals, Salvador and Porto Alegre, are analyzed in the decade of 90. Initially, a brief walk through the literature becomes on the subject. After that, the perpectives of local development assumed by the governments are shown in each one of the cities, emphasizing the approaches given to the questions of the social exclusion and the urban competitiveness, and the economic initiatives being implemented are analyzed. The conclusion argues the approach differences and evidences that, despite the limitations, new and old instruments can be used in the local management of the economic development.