Question

Why do you suppose mercantilist ideas about gold were eventually given up?

Answer 1

Mercantilist ideas did not decline until the coming of the Industrial Revolution and of laissez-faire.

Explanation:

Mercantilism was finally challenged by advocates of "laissez-faire" who argued that international and domestic trade were both important, and that it was not the case that one country must grow wealthy at the expense of another.

As this and other economic ideas arose throughout the nineteenth century, the mercantilist view was superseded. Nonetheless, many of the ideas and policies have not been forgotten, emerging again as circumstances changed.

For example, the Great Depression of the early twentieth century created doubts about the efficacy and stability of free market economies, providing a new role for governments in the control of economic affairs.