Nicolaas Gerard Pierson

Infobox Prime Minister
name =Nicolaas Gerard Pierson


caption =
order =Prime Minister of the Netherlands
term_start = 27 July 1897
term_end = 31 July 1901
deputy =
predecessor = J. Röell
successor = A. Kuyper
order2 =Minister of Finance
term_start2 = 21 August 1891
term_end2 = 9 May 1894
predecessor2 = K.A. Godin de Beaufort
successor2 = J.P. Sprenger van Eyk
term_start3 = 27 July 1897
term_end3 = 1 August 1901
predecessor3 = J.P. Sprenger van Eyk
successor3 = J.J.I. Harte van Tecklenburg
order4 =Member of Parliament
term_start4 = 19 September 1905
term_end4 = 21 September 1909
predecessor4 =
successor4 =
constituency4 = Gorinchem
birth_date =birth date|1839|02|07|df=y
birth_place = Amsterdam, Netherlands
death_date = death date and age|1909|12|24|1839|02|07|df=y
death_place = Heemstede, Netherlands
party = Liberale Unie
spouse = Catharina Rutgera Waller
languagesspoken =

Nicolaas Gerard Pierson (Amsterdam, 7 February 1839 – Heemstede, 24 December 1909) was a Dutch Liberal financial and economic expert, politician, and statesman, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of the Netherlands from 1897 until 1901.

Pierson was a professor economics and statistics at the University of Amsterdam and director and presiding director ("president-directeur") of the De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch national bank. He was minister of Finance in the Cabinet Van Tienhoven. During his term of office he introduced an important tax revision. After serving as chairman of the Council of Ministers for four years he took a seat in parliament for the constituency of Gorinchem from 1905 to 1909. Pierson received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

Family background

Pierson married in 1862 to Catharina Rutgera Waller, with whom he had no children.

Work

Pierson's main two economist texts were "Grondbeginselen der Staathuiskunde" and "Leerboek der Staathuiskunde", the latter being translated into English and Italian.

He was also essential in laying the foundations for the "Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek".

Trivia

Head of the firm Beckman en Pierson, which traded in cotton and colonial wares, from 1861-1864 alongside H.B. Wiardi Beckman.

External links

* [http://www.parlement.com/9291000/modulesf/g5ul8oc3 Dutch Parliament Website]
* [http://www.ru.nl/ahc/vg/html/vg000193.htm Short biography in Dutch]