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According to the Java Language Specification \[[JLS 2005|AA. Java References#JLS 05]\], section 8.3.2.1 "Initializers for Class Variables":

public class Cycle {
  private static final Cycle c = new Cycle();
  private final int balance;
  private static final int deposit =  (int) (Math.random() * 100); // Random deposit

  public Cycle(){
    balance = deposit - 10; // Subtract processing fee
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("The account balance is: " + c.balance);	
  }
}

According to the Java Language Specification \[[JLS 2005|AA. Java References#JLS 05]\], section 12.4 "Initialization of Classes and Interfaces":

This statement asserts that the presence of a {{static}} field triggers the initialization of a class, however, in this example, a recursive attempt is being made to initialize the class already. Because such recursive attempts are ignored by the JVM, the default value of {{deposit}} is {{0}} during the initialization. \[[Bloch 2005|AA. Java References#Bloch 05]\]

public class Cycle {
  private final int balance;
  private static final int deposit =  (int) (Math.random() * 100); // Random deposit
  private static final Cycle c = new Cycle();  // Inserted after initialization of required fields
  public Cycle(){
    balance = deposit - 10; // Subtract processing fee
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("The account balance is: " + c.balance);	
  }
}

This noncompliant code example uses an inner class that extends the outer class. The outer class in turn, uses the {{static}} instance of the inner class. This results in a circular initialization issue \[[Findbugs 2008|AA. Java References#Findbugs 08]\].

public class CircularClassInit {
  static class InnerClassSingleton extends CircularClassInit {
    static final InnerClassSingleton singleton = new InnerClassSingleton();
  }
  static final CircularClassInit foo = InnerClassSingleton.singleton;
}

public class CircularClassInit {
  static class InnerClassSingleton extends CircularClassInit {
    static final InnerClassSingleton singleton = new InnerClassSingleton();
  }
}

Notably, class initialization cycles can also occur because of circularity in the code present within the {{static}} initializers of two or more classes \[[Findbugs 2008|AA. Java References#Findbugs 08]\]. Also see the related guideline [MSC08-J. Avoid cyclic dependencies between packages].

\[[JLS 2005|AA. Java References#JLS 05]\] Sections [8.3.2.1, Initializers for Class Variables|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/classes.html#8.3.2.1]; [12.4, Initialization of Classes and Interfaces|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/execution.html#12.4]
  Puzzle 49: Larger Than Life
\[[MITRE 2009|AA. Java References#MITRE 09]\] [CWE ID 665|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/665.html] "Improper Initialization"