Should static field initialization be completed before constructor is called?

The following program provides output that seems incorrect to me.

```
new A()
_A == null
static A()
new A()
_A == A

```

The code:

```
public class A
{
    public static string _A = (new A()).I();

    public A()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("new A()");
        if (_A == null)
            Console.WriteLine("_A == null");
        else
            Console.WriteLine("_A == " + _A);
    }

    static A()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("static A()");
    }

    public string I()
    {
        return "A";
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       var a = new A();
    }
}

```