The Migration Research Group (MRG), which is based at the HWWI, leads the Study Group “Diversity, Integration and the Economy” which is funded by the VolkswagenStiftung for a period of three years. The Study Group will analyse how immigrant diversity influences economic performance in host areas and how this is mediated by regulatory frameworks. Diversity denotes immigrants’ distinctive human-cultural and social capital, and how these are spatially distributed. In a first stage, the project will analyse how these forms of diversity affect labour market performance, economic productivity, innovation and growth in host countries. The second stage will involve qualitative research on how these relationships are mediated by regulatory frameworks (legislation on immigrants’ status, rights, access to socioeconomic resources, and education systems) at EU, national and local level. Finally, proposals for enhancing the economic performance of immigrants and informing public debates on the economic impact of immigration will be developed. From April 2005 on, a team of economists, sociologists, political scientists and lawyers from the MRG, COMPAS (Oxford), The Institute for Employment Research (IAB, Nuremberg, Kiel), FEEM (Milan) and Darmstadt University of Technology will carry out the research. Head of the Study Group is Prof. Dr. Thomas Straubhaar, President of the HWWI.