Krugman: The financial crisis has roots in Asia

New York Times (NYT) columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says when economists and historians try to discern the causes of the global financial crisis, they'll have to look to Asia.

After the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, countries in the eastern hemisphere started to protect themselves against future currency contagion by racking up huge war chests of foreign revenue and assets; they also exported capital to the West.