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Enrique Dans

On the effects of technology and innovation on people, companies and society (writing in Spanish at since 2003)

IMAGE: Lorenzo Cafaro and Clker Free Vector Images — Pixabay (CC0)

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What’s the difference between a small-time investor and a gambling addict?

3 min readFeb 15, 2021

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The family of a 20-year-old man from Illinois is commission-free online broker for allegedly telling their son he had lost several hundred thousand dollars that he would have to pay back within days, when the reality was that and that the confusion was . The young man, desperate after several fruitless attempts to contact Robinhood’s customer service, committed suicide, and left a note explaining to his family that he had no idea what he had done and that he hoped his death would relieve his family of the financial obligation he believed he had incurred.

The absence of commissions and the use of that , causing many young people with little financial knowledge people to . But while gambling is seen as a vice, investing in the stock market is regarded as more socially acceptable, the preserve of the intelligent and the successful.

Robinhood was the first commission-free online trading company with a business model based on the so-called , money received by the broker from a third party that aims to influence…

Enrique Dans
Enrique Dans

Published in Enrique Dans

On the effects of technology and innovation on people, companies and society (writing in Spanish at since 2003)

Enrique Dans
Enrique Dans

Written by Enrique Dans

Professor of Innovation at IE Business School and blogger (in English here and in Spanish at )

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