Three researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Nathaniel Arnold, Guillaume Claveres, Jan Frie have concluded that the European Union has a productivity problem. The researchers say the people of Europe produce nearly 30 percent less per hour worked than they would have, had real output per hour worked increased in line with that in the United States since 2000. A failure to sufficiently develop innovative startups into "superstar" firms is one of the reasons for the bloc's poor productivity growth, they said. "Europe's fragmented economy and financial system partly underly this problem. Without a more frictionless single market for goods, services, labor, and capital, it's more expensive and difficult for successful startups to scale up. "On top of that, Europe's bank-based financial system is not well-suited to finance risky startups. High-tech startups often develop new technologies and business models, which are risky and may be hard for banks to assess.