We consider proper, algebraic semismall maps f from a complex algebraic manifold X. We show that the topological Decomposition Theorem implies a motivic decomposition theorem for the rational algebraic cycles of X and, in the case X is compact, for the Chow motive of X.The result is a Chow-theoretic analogue of Borho-MacPhersons observation concerning the cohomology of the fibers and their relation to the relevant strata for f. Under suitable assumptions on the stratification, we prove an explicit version of the motivic decomposition theorem. The assumptions are fulfilled in many cases of interest, e.g. in connection with resolutions of orbifolds and of some configuration spaces. We compute the Chow motives and groups in some of these cases, e.g. the nested Hilbert schemes of points of a surface. In an appendix with T. Mochizuki, we do the same for the parabolic Hilbert scheme of points on a surface. The results above hold for mixed Hodge structures and explain, in some cases, the equality between orbifold Betti/Hodge numbers and ordinary Betti/Hodge numbers for the crepant semismall resolutions in terms of the existence of a natural map of mixed Hodge structures. Most results hold over an algebraically closed field and in the Kaehler context.
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