Nicolaas Pierson

Nicolaas Pierson
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office
July 27, 1897 – July 31, 1901
Monarch Wilhelmina
Emma (Regency ended in 1898)
Preceded by Joan Röell
Succeeded by Abraham Kuyper
Minister of Finance
In office
August 21, 1891 – May 9, 1894
Prime Minister Gijsbert van Tienhoven
Preceded by Karel A. Godin de Beaufort
Succeeded by Jacobus P. S. van Eyk
Personal details
Born Nicolaas Gerard Pierson
7 February 1839(1839-02-07)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Died 24 December 1909(1909-12-24) (aged 70)
Heemstede, The Netherlands
Political party LU
Spouse(s) Catharina Rutgera Waller
Alma mater University of Leiden
University of Cambridge
Occupation Economist
Religion Dutch Reformed Church : moderate Orthodox

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 the House of Representatives for the constituency of Gorinchem from 1905 to 1909. Pierson received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

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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.

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