The article reviews publications on the impact of epidemics, including the coronavirus pandemic, on economic development. The author first explores the mechanisms of such influence, including both direct and indirect effects. He then treats the channels of influence for direct effects - through the factors of the Solow model of productivity and the volume of production, demand and consumption, the volume of savings and investment; for indirect effects - through the influence on investors and consumers sentiment through media news, Internet, social networks. Drawing on the works focused on the coronavirus pandemic impact on markets, mainly financial markets, the authors summarize and structure the types of models used as well as dependent and independent variables. The findings contribute to identifying the ways of minimizing the pandemic negative impact on economies in general and financial markets in particular.