(Reuters) - Tax and budget policies need the same regularity and independence as monetary policy if countries around the world are to cope with looming stresses from pension programs, world central bankers were told at a Federal Reserve conference on Saturday.

"Modern monetary research and practical policy-making are united in aiming to make monetary policy scientific," said Indiana University Economics Professor Eric Leeper in a paper. "No analogous transformation has occurred with macro fiscal policy."

Leeper presented his paper at an annual conference held by the U.S. Federal Reserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

His view will have resonance for policy-makers who in many countries have already cut interest rates to historically low levels and launched extensive asset purchase programs to stimulate growth. With prospects for new fiscal stimulus programs politically unpopular, central bankers are considering additional measures to ease financial conditions to support flagging recoveries in many countries represented at the conference.