The course goal is to expose students to the research frontiers in algorithmic mechanism design from the context provided by the classic economics literature.  Students will read recent papers in algorithmic mechanism design and classic works from economics.  These papers will be presented, discussed, and compared in class.   The course will cover some materials complementing the topics covered in Algorithmic Mechanism Design (EECS 495, Spring 2010).  While students are not required to have taken this course to participate in the seminar, students are encouraged to follow the course notes as needed <http://users.eecs.northwestern.edu/~hartline/amd.pdf>.  One of the main goals of this seminar is to critically contrast standard models in CS and economics literature; papers will often be considered in pairs that will be drawn one from CS and one from economics.  Differences in paired papers will suggest research directions that students will be encouraged to pursue.  All attendees (regardless of registration for the course) will be expected to read each pair of papers in advance of each class take the lead in discussing one or two papers.