what on earth is mechanism design?

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What on earth is mechanism design?" was the typical reasctionto thsi year's Nobel prize in economics. In this ear of "Freakonomics", in which everyone is dicovering their inner economist, economics has become unexpectedly sexy. So what possedssed the Nobel comittee to honour a subject that sounds so thoroughly disaml? Why didn't they follow the lead of the peace-prize judges, who know not to let technicalities about being true to the meaning of the award get in the way of good headlines?