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The economic thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau has often been reduced to some pieces on money, inequalities, luxury and autarky. Compared to contemporary writings of Quesnay, Smith or Hume, it has been considered for long as backward. Jean Mathiot has however shown that, far from being backward-looking, Rousseau’s economic thought can been seen as a significant move of the political philosophy in its relation with political economy. The ambition of this article is to show, through the example of the economic exchange, that the relation between politics and economics cannot be reduced to an hegemony of the political rationality. The economic rationality appears, on the contrary, constituent of the legitimate civil state including in its most negative expression, I mean autarky. Classification JEL: A11, A12, A13, B11, B31, K00.