This conclusion suggests that what ails countries like Turkey and Brazil is less their troubled economies (high inflation and lots of debt) and more the volatile investment flows coming into their countries.

And it questioned what has long been seen as a core principle for emerging economies: that the free flow of capital into and out of these markets is a force for good that should be encouraged.

“There is no doubt that Hélène’s work carries with it important policy implications,” said Mr. Shin, the economist at the Bank for International Settlements, whose work on global capital flows Ms. Rey has drawn upon.

Ms. Rey’s paper, delivered in the summer of 2013, could not have been better timed. Just months earlier, global markets had been roiled by the so-called taper tantrum when global investors pulled billions of dollars out of emerging economies based on the news that the Fed would taper its bond purchasing program.

Suddenly, she was very much in demand — fielding calls from central bankers, policy makers and global investors alike, all of whom were searching for a framework to help them analyze this sudden bout of market volatility.

“It has been a nice surprise — life has definitely gotten busier,” Ms. Rey said in a telephone interview from Santiago, Chile, where she was talking to the central bank there about how best to respond to capital flows. “This is an important debate. We have to decide which flows are beneficial and which are speculative.”