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In economics, industrial organization is a field that extends the theory of the firm by analyzing the structure of firms and markets, as well as the boundaries between them. It introduces real-world features that depart from the perfectly competitive model, such as transaction costs, imperfect information, and barriers to entry faced by potential competitors. The field studies how firms and markets are organized and how they behave across a spectrum ranging from competitive markets to monopoly, including cases shaped by government intervention and regulation.