SQL Server query problem when selecting data from child table based on column in parent table
Thank you @Greg for answering the question. The problem required that the SQL statement fully qualify the columns in the where clause by referencing the tables for the columns. In this case. I needed m_econ_fred_source=attrib_id. 

The complete solution is: 

SELECT [update], [value] 
FROM m_econ_fred_source JOIN s_econ_fred 
ON m_econ_fred_source.param_id = s_econ_fred.param_id   
WHERE m_econ_fred_source.param_id = 2 AND
      m_econ_fred_source.attrib_id = 7 AND   
      [update] BETWEEN '2014-01-01' AND '2016-03-01'  
ORDER BY [update] ASC